Where Are You… Safe or Out on the Skinny Branch?

Have you created an invisible safety zone you stay inside no matter what? Do you feel like you never take a chance? Do you feel stuck?

Chances are that you are stuck – stuck inside the fallacy of safety. Nicely tucked into your safety zone so you never have to go out on that limb – that very scary-looking skinny branch.

It is inevitable that you will feel stalled. That safety zone has a way of getting smaller and smaller. It gets especially small if you start feeding your mind with the possibilities of life.

I stayed safe for a very long time. I was tucked inside my lovely westside home. I was staying safe in my dysfunctional relationship. I kept myself distracted with the things other people would consider successful. And then eventually that safe space became very constricted.

My inner self would not be silenced any longer. I tried to satiate that self with reading a few books here and there (or more like starting a few books, but never finishing them). Then ideas, even from my limited reading, began to stick in my brain. I became aware of the possibilities in life. I began asking myself who I really wanted to be. I began listening to my intuition. Then I began taking 100% responsibility for my life.

It wasn’t long before these possibilities became responsibilities. I became aware of who I was meant to be. I peeled away the layers of what I “should” be. I started changing the ideals I allowed to be placed on me. Layers from the work world, layers from well-meaning family and friends, layers I put on myself in an effort to stay in that safety zone.

It eventually became too much and I collapsed under all those layers. My safety zone was quickly becoming a crypt. And my only escape was moving out onto a skinny branch. Not the big fat safe ones I had been using. That’s where I had just been and I knew I needed something different. I was out on the ones that sway in the wind, forcing me to keep my balance. I ventured onto the ones where each step had a little unknown in it.

Was it scary? Yes. But for the first time in a very long time I felt SOMETHING! Something that was oddly familiar. I was feeling what it was like to be me – truly me.

Warning signs you are playing it too safe:

• Has it been months since you tried anything new?
• Have you fallen into the same pattern day in and day out?
• Do you find yourself telling yourself things like “That would be nice, but it’s not the right time.” or “Maybe I’ll do that when [fill in the blank].”
• Has it been a long time since you read something that challenges your brain, or better yet – your ideas of how things “should” be.
• And here is a biggie!!!!!! You are really miserable where you are now, but you stay in that place because it’s “easier.”

I encourage you to break out of that pattern! Nothing says you have to run to the end of the skinny branch all at once! Take two steps out on that skinny branch. Face the fear. Take the chance.

Now I regularly look to see if I am far enough out on the skinny branch. Is it still scary? Sometimes it is. But it is also exciting! It is movement. It is living!

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Just include this complete statement with the content: A. Lynn Jesus, CEO and Purpose Expert with Thriveology, is dedicated to helping people discover their purpose and live life on their terms. Are you ready to get started? Get her FREE workbook 5 Steps to Begin Defining Your Journey.