Beyond My Comfort Zone

"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid"
- Epictetus

I heard this quote for the first time while watching the movie "Serendipity". A movie I'd seen come on repeatedly, but never stopped to watch...until this particular night. I've since recorded it on my DVR and as I do with many of my favorite movies, often watch it late at night.

This quote spoke to me. I don't know why it did at the time, but my memory has recalled it sporadically since then.

Epictetus, by the way, was a Greek Philosopher and he has many, many great quotes. This, however, is my hands-down favorite.

All of us, at many points throughout our lives, come to the proverbial fork in the road and have to make a choice. Sometimes it's the road less traveled. Other times it's the well-worn path. We may spend a great deal of time deciding on which path to take. In contrast, we often know immediately which is the way to venture.

To me, this quote says sometimes you have to throw it all out there. Sometimes you have to take the risk. Thought foolish. Stupid. Don't ask. Don't contemplate all the if's, and's or but's. Experience it. That's why it's called "life".

Sometimes this kind of thinking is what pushes us ahead to the next level. The level where we can look back and say, "If I hadn't gone out on a limb and debated all the pros and cons, I might not be here."

And that is me to a "T". I over-think. Over-analyze. Over-react. Over-everything. I'm often thinking of possible problems before they even become a thought in the mind of fruition. Will it end well? Will I get hurt? Is that what is really going on? Am I being lied to? Should I phrase it this way or that? Did he/she take that the way I meant it? Will I fail? It's a defense mechanism that my body has switched to in order to protect myself from certain scenarios. Scenarios, mind you, in which the majority of are fictional in my over-protective mind. But I automatically jump to the "just in case" reaction. It has got to be watering down my life experience, if that makes sense.

I tend to make my life full of too many if's. So I wonder...What would happen "if" I stopped doing this? At least for the most part. What would happen if I were more thought-foolish and stupid about certain choices? I wonder if that just sounds good on paper or it is actually sound.

I think it's what is truly known as having FAITH. Whether faith in a situation or in someone. Why not? Sure I may experience pain. Disappointment. Grief. Or, I could experience a joy like I never would have known. Complete, full and satisfying.

It's simply got to be what it's like to truly believe. Give others a reason to believe in you and in turn, believe in them. Then let go...