““Refusing to be brave isn’t living-it’s called hiding.””
Why I picked it up: When I picked this book up at the beginning of last year, I was facing a ton of change at home, at work and in my personal life and I was looking for any insight I could find on embracing that change. As a routine kind of person, I tend to resist change. I prefer the safety and security of things that are certain and proven by time. Bravery is not natural for me; I’m more of a cowardly lion. So… you could say I was asking the Great Wizard of Oz for some courage.
My Key Takeaways from the Book:
Complacency: Kirk Smith talks a lot at the beginning of the book about complacency and how being stuck in a state of complacency really comes from fear and doubt.. “It is in complacency that people keep to themselves, slog through a day at work, go home and then do it all over again, without ever moving outside of their comfort zone.” Fear of the unknown and the doubts I had about myself were keeping me in a place that was comfortable, but not a place that was challenging me to be better and moving me forward towards the life I wanted. He also points out that complacency is dangerous because “It isn’t always a quick jolt that knocks us off course. It is often a slight veering off course over a long period of time.”
Fear of Inexperience: In the book, Kirk Smith says that the fear of inadequacy commonly keeps people from moving forward, simply because they don’t think they would be good at doing what they really want to do, having never done it before. He challenges that by saying. “When we are passionate, we seek to know as much about our pursuit as we possibly can. In the process of doing this inadequacies- real and imagined- are almost guaranteed to fade away.” He goes on to say later that practice is the “enemy” to inadequacy and that “fear is only as powerful as your unfamiliarity allows it to be.” If you are afraid you aren’t good enough to (do that thing you really want to do), go and learn more about it. Taking action to learn more will prove to yourself that you are good enough.
Letting Go of the Past: “You cannot allow that which is already done and gone to hold you back indefinitely,” Kirk Smith says. It’s easy to chain yourself to the limiting beliefs you have about yourself because of something that has happened in your past or something that someone said to you in the past. “You might as well begin using your past for good,” he urges. “The past chains us to our inadequacies.” We all have things in our past we aren’t proud of. But continually beating yourself up over them will not move you forward or help you reach a point where you are the exact opposite of what you were in the past.
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Hey, I’m Meghan
I’m here sharing content all about pursuing your own version of more and loving how you feel doing it. If that sounds good to you, stick around and let’s be friends!
