Risk Versus Safety
I have been challenging my team of coaches to do scary things lately—things that stretch them and force them to grow.
I’m a big believer in doing scary things…until it comes time for me to do them. Of course I get scared just like anyone else, but in order to get to another place, I too must be willing to do the things that make my stomach do a few somersaults from time to time.
I did something REALLY scary. I scheduled a meeting with our financial planner. It’s scary for me to even admit that.
The underlying theme and message I learned growing up was that once I get out of college, I should find a job that pays the bills, has a good retirement plan and I should stay at a job like this until I retire.
It sounded like a great plan and it was for the first few years. I was a young 20-something building a nest for my future, while living the life I hadn’t always dreamed of living.
I did this for 12 years and never really bought into the philosophy, even though I watched my parents do it and were VERY successful at it.
What if certainty and safety weren’t the philosophy I would choose for me? What if taking risks, starting my own business, creating my own personal freedom on my terms were the approach I took?
After 12 years, I took a leap to follow my philosophy. It was scary. REALLY scary. What about philosophy no. 1? What if I totally just screwed up my future and my family’s future?
I still took that leap.
Today as I sat across from my financial planner, my eyes welled with tears. I told him I’m not where I want to be financially. I’ve had to be willing to take setbacks to be an entrepreneur. I’ve had lots of successes, lots of failures, lots that I have learned, lots of things that I wish I would have been better at doing.
Then after a brief pause, he interrupted and said, “Rhonda, you’re doing much better than you think and I think you’re being really hard on yourself.”
It was like this pressure released from a gigantic balloon and I just let out a huge sigh.
After the meeting, on my way home, I started to think about my choice to be an entrepreneur. Tears in my eyes starting to pour down my face. Not from disappointment, but from pure gratitude.
I started to take a snapshot of my past five years of my life as a business owner. I never looked back on my life and thought one time that if I would have stayed in a safe job, that I would be so much happier with a bigger 401k or I wouldn’t have had the business expenses I have had.
Instead, I looked at my home office, the one I got to create. I saw the window that I get to look out each night and see the sunset. I thought about the experiences I’ve created for my family. I thought of the memories we made. I thought about how cool it is to do what I love. I felt overwhelming joy thinking about the time I’ve been able to invest in being a mom.
Then I saw my husband and I thought of how extremely fortunate I am to have this pillar of stability in my life so I can dream. How he’s always supported my dreams, even when it probably scared him to death. How I was able to jump out of that net, because I knew no matter happened, he would catch me.
The risk of uncertainty will always win for me. Perspective changes everything.
I did something scary today. My future looks bright.