Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Expect Greatness


Life can be drastically altered in seconds. Most often we think of drastic alterations as illness, an accident, or the death of a loved one. However, how long does it take for life to change in our favor? How long does it take for us to get that one phone call, message, or letter letting us know that what we hoped for is on the horizon? Life can be drastically altered in seconds, but not only in tragedy and pain. There are times when we are simply moments away from stepping closer to personal fulfillment. 
Expectation requires us to believe in an occurrence that hasn’t happened. It is associated with our ability to imagine. Unfortunately, most either expect negativity or nothing at all. The avoidance of disappointment has hindered many from believing in or expecting greatness. 
Maybe you allowed yourself to believe in a relationship that failed. Maybe you let your hopes run wild for a job that you didn’t get. Maybe you have had hardship after hardship so you refuse to hope for anything better. Disappointment can be painful, devastating, and even embarrassing. However, disappointment does not have to get the last word. Disappointment only wins when we are so fearful of feeling it again that we stop believing. When we refuse to believe that our lives will improve, we give up hope, and giving up hope is dangerous.
If expectation requires imagination why not expect something favorable instead of something to be feared? Life can change in a moment. I challenge you to expect positive change. I challenge you to consider that you are on the brink of the life you seek. I challenge you to use your imagination in your favor by expecting greatness.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Transitions

For weeks I have wanted to share my perspective on transitions. I’d been through enough of them to know how to articulate the process. I was very familiar with the uncertainty, frustration, waiting, more frustration, and finally, clarity. I could talk about the struggle of wanting to peek into the future to know just a little bit more before having to make a decision, but still having to make the decision. Yet, there was a transition I needed to complete before I could write this post.

After spending four months traveling around the world, I fluctuated between desperately wanting to start a new life and enjoying freedom of not having to rush into a routine. What I longed for most was a definitive answer. I found myself unclear, uncertain, and approaching a fearful place. I honestly didn’t know what would be my best course of action. Was I supposed to become more focused on creating the next phase of my life or was I to learn to appreciate the free space?

I can honestly say that even in my moments of doubt, I knew in my soul that I simply needed to trust. Trusting is obviously easier said than implemented, but I found comfort in knowing that all I needed to do was trust. That realization gave me reason to believe that everything would work out in my favor, for my benefit. Trusting through the transition gave me hope even if it didn’t always make me feel hopeful.

In the months that followed, I watched others make progress, get closer to their next phase, and get the answers I wanted. The more time that passed, the harder I had to work to keep my feelings stable and trust that I would eventually receive all that I needed. It took eight months, but all of the concrete answers I sought were delivered. Suddenly, all of the waiting, uncertainty, and frustration dissolved. I am clear, thankful, and hopeful. As I walk into the next phase of my life, everything makes sense. Every single thing!
 
Transitions are difficult, especially while we’re in the middle of them. What would happen, though, if we conditioned ourselves to appreciate the freedom that exists in uncertain spaces instead of fearing it? How would uncertainty feel if we treated it as a favorable circumstance instead of a threatening one? When we reach the end of a transition we often have an ‘aha’ moment, a time when it all makes sense. All of the wavering. All of the seemingly haphazard events. All of the rejection that pushed us to become more and better. We come out of a haze and into clarity. If our past has shown us that we’ll end up in a more favorable place at the end of a transition than we were in the beginning, we need to learn a better, more healthy way to get through the in-between stage of transitioning.