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It was a Monday morning, and my newest article had just been published.
I loved those mornings. I never knew when or if it would be published. So when it came out, it felt like Christmas morning.
After the excitement of the morning wore off, I was checking my social accounts to see how my article was doing. I was surprised when I noticed my editor had tagged me in a few of his posts. He wrote a piece putting together some of the articles he edited that week. They all seemed to tell one big story of sorts. Mine happened to be one of them. I felt super honored.
I checked out the other articles to see how they all lead to one big story. I didn’t know any of the authors, but one name stuck out to me. I actually remembered her from the writers’ forum from the previous week.
She stood out because I remembered her voice. She was passionate about her writing. I remember how brave I thought she was to voice her thoughts in the middle of a writer’s group. She wasn’t shy. And she didn’t care what anyone thought.
Later that day, I checked the comments on my article. I noticed she had left me a message. It was sweet, kind, and caring.
Without a thought, agenda, or expectations, I responded to her and suggested we co-write an article together.
I was new at writing. I was still trying to find my voice. Yet I opened myself up to another writer whom I have never met before.
I pushed out the fear that would typically hover in my mind and replaced it with chance and boldness. Her response was just as daring as my question, “When do we start?”
We both stepped into the unknown and it has changed our lives.
We didn’t know if we would connect. We didn’t know if we would understand each other. We didn’t know if we would like each other. We didn’t know if we could open up to this new person.
But we took a chance and put trust in each other.
And this has been the greatest experience for us. Since writing together, we have grown. We have learned so much from each other. We don’t know where our words will take us, but we believe in each other. We believe in ourselves. There is hope in everything we want to share with the world. We are open to adjustments or taking a new path. To challenge each other when we are not being real or truthfully open.
We are open to accepting the potential failures that may come when we write.
To live our dreams and embrace life, we have to be fearless and willing to step into the unknown. There is no other way to live our life to its fullest potential. Fear of the unknown can be fear of change. But the unknown can be magical. We just need to step on the edge and jump.
When we say “hell yes to the unknown,” we turn fear into magic
The unknown can help us discover who we really are.
Life is a mission to discover who we are. We don’t believe it ever ends. We go through the motions and find our place in this world. Most take calculated risks to secure a safe life. But if we take a chance, we are providing ourselves with possibilities of what we may be capable of. We are creating the person we want to be, the person we look forward to becoming.
The unknown can teach us how to feel day by day less empty and more whole.
In order to find our wholeness, we need to be well-rounded. This includes accepting the not-so-easy way of things. We are fully surrendering to all expectations, giving ourselves a fresh start, and feeling completely free. We must leave our comfort zone to discover our true selves.
Everything we seek to be or become is already inside us, and everything we seek to discover from life is most definitely outside of our comfort zone. Outside of what our eyes can see.
The unknown brings excitement to our lives.
The more we feel comfortable in the unknown, the more exciting life feels. The excitement of the possibilities and wonderment. The new people we will meet. The amazing experiences we will encounter, like walking in a new city, feeling hopeful of everything we can discover.
The unknown will teach us to accept fear.
Before we can overcome our fear of the unknown, we must first accept it is normal to feel that fear within us. Sometimes we accept it without even questioning it. We have to question our fear, feed it some popcorn, and tell it to watch the show while we gain control.
We will be more willing to embrace change if we can see fear as the spark that ignites the courage we seek to take a leap of faith. To step into the unknown.
The unknown opens our hearts.
For most of our lives, we let our brains lead the way. Embracing the unknown is learning how to let our hearts take the lead. Our heart knows the way. It may get ripped apart from time to time but it is sometimes smarter than our brain. Our feelings, as confusing as they may sometimes appear, deep in our core know what we want, what we are looking for, and what is good for us.
God doesn’t give us what we want; he gives us what we need.
The unknown is freedom.
Being in complete presence in our lives by letting go of our expectations is freedom. Freedom to go for anything because we want more. We seek more than what we know. That is f*cking freedom. Freedom to do what we love, to fail, to succeed, or to laugh for no other reason than to just feel happy.
The unknown will show us greatness.
We achieve greatness by acceptance versus trying to make things right or perfect. Right for whom? Perfect for whom? Who is to say what is right? Greatness is in the eyes of the beholder. We will feel free because nothing is holding us back.
One thing we know for sure is that fear does not pay off. Decisions that have shaped this world for the better have been made from courage and hope—not from fear.
With co-writing, we realized we didn’t only have faith in ourselves or the project. We didn’t even know each other. However, we knew ourselves and that is the magic. We trusted ourselves to drive through the unknown and to adapt according to what would come.
The magic of jumping or walking or even crawling into the unknown is that it only requires one ingredient: to trust ourselves. Everything else comes after that.
It is us, it has always been us. Before, listening to people say that everything we need is already inside us, didn’t make much sense. I believed it but I didn’t really get it. I couldn’t see. The common denominator in all my life experiences, my adventures, is that my life has been and will always be defined by me.
You and I are the power we need to use.
There is no way to lose when we trust ourselves. We always win. Because living itself is already winning and learning is the biggest prize.
Our biggest achievements have come from those moments when we have nothing. When we feel afraid but our thirst to be someone, to believe we can achieve that crazy idea is bigger than anything else. We are not looking for security; we are looking to truly enjoy life like crazy—to feel happy and grateful for everything we are and have within us.
Every time we decided to go forward, we trusted ourselves. It’s as simple as that.
Nothing is ever for sure, but we can always decide to give it our best.
We are a walking map of adventures, routines. We are a walking map of love.
We have always trusted who we are. We just didn’t realize it wasn’t about the circumstances; it has always been about us. About how powerful and extraordinary we truly are.
The next time we are facing the unknown, may we jump in head and toes f*cking hard. We can only win. We will gain the experiences of a lifetime. We will build incredible connections. We will discover the unimaginable.
Having the courage to believe in ourselves is the key.
The moment we walk into the unknown, the world opens up to us. The possibilities are endless. It’s f*cking magic.
~
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