You should. We all should. If I’ve heard it once this week I’ve heard it 17 times; living your life for the approval of others will cause you to drown in your own disappointment. Well I didn’t hear it exactly like that, but that’s how it made me feel. Striving for approval means a little less you and a lot more of what “they” want to see from you. THEY will eventually cause you to sit so still that there’s no chance the boat will even sway let alone full-out rock! Hey, if this boat is a rockin’ – you better come knockin’ because it means I’m doing SOMETHING that I’m passionate about.
When we make a conscious decision to do something bold there are usually two things present: conflict and passion. And living my life without either of these would mean I was merely floating down the river of life without purpose.
Supposedly variety is the spice of life; I say LIVING is the spice of life! Variety helps, but just beyond variety our elusive friends pain and pleasure lay in waiting; watching and laughing at the countless things we will do to either avoid one or run full steam in pursuit of the other. So, am I saying that taking the path of least resistance is like living with no rock in your boat? Kinda.
Rocking the boat, at least for me, means that instead of avoiding something painful or taking the fast track to something pleasurable I choose to sit in discomfort for a while because it might just be the right thing to do. And I also believe that when we cause ourselves to sit in that uncomfortable place, it empowers us to make a statement; whereby rocking the proverbial boat. Yay for us!
So, you ask, “What’s in this for me?” I hope there’s a nugget of hope that sometimes when you WANT to take the easy route, you have an option to grow through the process of uncomfortability (I just made that word up). And since I made it up, I’m forming my own definition to mean that you have the ability and choice to go beyond your limits of comfort to reach new places and to take a stand where you might have previously sat idly by. It means you have permission to venture out; to float a little further into the deep water. It means you are living your life instead of worrying what other people think.
So go out today and rock your boat…or someone else’s; it just might be the life-changing life jacket that causes you to explore new waters and make a statement.
