Several weeks ago I was the commencement speaker at a graduation. After the event was over, a woman approached me and said, “I used to listen to you on the radio. You helped me make a monumental decision in my life; you helped me get out of an abusive relationship.”
Outside of that being one of the most humbling moments of my life, I thought about the courage it took for this woman to step into her next level. I wondered how long she had been wanting to leave and what exactly I said that made her realize she was worth more and could actually do it!
As I stood there hugging her, I realized that her and I were the same. In that moment, we were both standing in a new place in our lives. We had both realized that the circumstances we were in (my job and her relationship) were no longer acceptable. We decided that we were worth more than what others would have us believe and we took back our power. And once we took back our power, we both became bosses. We were bosses because we recognized that our happiness and success was our responsibility and we refused to let anyone stand in the way of that anymore. She leaped, and so did I, and by doing so, we launched ourselves into the next level of our lives.
When your next level is calling you, it’s not uncommon that all of your fears and shortcomings are brought to the forefront of your life all at once. When this happens, you may get scared and begin to question whether or not you have what it takes to succeed at the next level. First, I’m here to tell you that you do have what it takes or it wouldn’t be calling you. But you do need to prepare yourself and this is where you need to acquire new knowledge. Learn everything that you can about whatever it is that is calling you because this will build your confidence and courage to leap…and you must leap or you will be miserable.
When you’re transitioning from one level of your life to the next, there will always be a part of the process that feels uncomfortable and scary, don’t let that stop you! Simply evaluate where you are, acquire new knowledge to prepare you, and then leap!
Remember that knowledge is a catalyst for change. If you don’t know any different, you can’t do any different. Also, knowledge leads to courage. We mostly fear because we don’t really know what or how to do what we want to do. When your next level is calling you, answer the call by equipping yourself with knowledge and then leap! And once you leap, you will find yourself so happy and fulfilled that you will wonder why you didn’t leap sooner!
-love, selena j
