TAKE A CHANCE

            There is a lot that has happened to get me to where I am at as far as deciding to start this. Really, almost 25 years of life events, relationships, school, work, and everything else that has got me to where I am today. The biggest thing that made me even think about starting a blog, is because we are currently in a global pandemic and in the middle of a government stay at home order. (I live in Michigan). I am off of work and I am really getting a lot of time to think about what I want to do with my life. I work for a flooring company, but I know that is not what I want to do long term. The other route I am working on is trying to become an electrician, however, i'm in the very early stages of that, as I don’t even have a job in that field. With the shutdown going on and the economy taking a hit everything is just moving kind of slow. That’s okay though, I am a patient man. I know all good things take time and that god has a way of working things out.

            I found myself looking at a job posting on Facebook and was thinking to myself “is this something I could do?” I ended up googling the job and what type of tips there are and one of the websites had mentioned that a lot of people that have been successful in this field have had previously or still currently have a blog. When I was younger I actually had a blog for a split second (don’t try to find it.. it is gone I promise!!!!). As this is something that I had once considered I figured what the hell, worst that can happen is that nobody will read it and I just talk to myself and have a virtual journal for all to read. I figure there are multiple benefits that could come from this such as being able to articulate my thoughts onto some sort of “paper”. If I begin to get traction, then that will make me stay up to date with it and continue to challenge myself to dive into my thoughts more. I plan to get vulnerable at times when I believe it will benefit others or myself. I guess at this point it kind of seems like this will be somewhat of a self improvementish type of thing. As for the job posting that began this search, only time will tell if that is something to pursue.

            All of these leads into what I guess we can talk about today. That is going to be TAKING CHANCES. As I have said before I have listened to multiple podcasts and an overwhelming theme of many are that you have to take chances in life. You will miss every opportunity by not taking action. You have to be able to get UNCOMFORTABLE in order to grow. If you really look back at any moments in time that you made a big step forward in anything, chances are that you were uncomfortable going into that situation. For myself personally there were many times that I have really had to “embrace the suck” but have come out of that experience gaining something. Great things come from when you force yourself into the land of uncomfort. The biggest example that I have that stands out above all others is when I had finally met my fiancé. We first met online as many people do know a days. When I had seen her picture I just stopped and thought to myself, “dang this girl is beautiful”. We had exchanged messages a few days, but nothing seemed to be coming from it. About a week after we last talked, she added me on snapchat by phone number. I sent a message just asking who it was because again at this time we haven’t had much conversation. After realizing it was the beautiful woman that had caught my attention before I knew I had to pursue her more. I finally had asked if she would want to meet and she had said she was sick. Something about her though made me do something different.

            I am typically a shy person. I don’t exactly like being the center of attention and get especially anxious when it comes to meeting new people in any setting, however, I found myself asking her if I could bring her soup. I like to try to be there for others and help out in any way that I can. Although we have never met, I knew that when I feel sick some soup usually hits the spot. She originally had said not tonight but I stayed persistent. She had finally agreed to meet me (she really did this because she believed I thought she was lying and wanted to prove me wrong). When I say I was scared s***less driving to her place I mean it. I was panicking in the car and second guessing if I really wanted to step out of this comfort zone. Well I did, so I show up, tomato soup, box of Kleenex, cough drops and cepicol in tow. She sounded like an old man because of her throat and she sure proved to me that she was indeed not feeling well. We sat at opposite ends of the table (again because I had no clue what I was doing at this point, still just nervous as ever) and talked for what felt like minutes but was actually hours.

            I was going through my own things at the time and so was she but somehow, we both got each other to open up about these situations like we were sitting at confession. The conversation just naturally flowed even though I felt like I was drowning at times. Regardless the night came to an end and it was time to leave. (here comes the proof of being shy) I left with a nice to meet you and not even a high five, handshake or hug… NOTHING. I got in my car feeling like a fricken idiot, but I was still proud of myself for getting out of my comfort zone. Fast forward to where we are now, and we are planning our wedding and lives together! There is way more in the last 2 and a half years that got us here and I am sure that some of those moments will come up later on.

            I will explore this topic again at a later date because I feel it is such an important point to make. But until then, let me know a time that you had stepped out of your comfort zone and took a chance.

            Much love and god bless.