Chartering into the Unknown

We all know the feeling: that flit of nerves mixed with the periodic wave of excitement. It comes as a natural reaction whenever we cannot mentally prepare for what lies ahead in our life paths. This post is inspired by my last summer’s unforgettable trip to the wilds of Alaska, a land with much to still be discovered.

The White Pass train chugged deep into the forests of Skagway, Alaska. I was a long way from home and I wasn’t sure what I was expecting to see during this over three-hour-long excursion. The fact that I was on a train was a miracle, because I have always had an inherent, yet unjustifiable, fear of trains. As the picturesque scenery sailed by, I tuned into the tour guide informing us of the pioneers who first trekked the land that was now before us. And that’s when I started drifting off into a new series of thoughts. The fact that people willingly decided to travel so far into the unknown amazed me. I realized that if someone could embrace the mystery of the future on such a grand scale, I could embrace the change that is to come in my own life.

I go through periods where I am super excited about what is to come and I realize it won’t be as bad as I previously thought, and then before you know it I have again fallen into a self-created tremor. Why is it that embracing the future can come in such a drastic range of emotions? I think sometimes the present is so good that we want to hold on to it forever, which can create resistance towards the potential of losing what we currently have. However, I have found that in being so upset over “what ifs,” we miss out on fully enjoying things when we do have them. Sometimes it isn’t even an external change that causes us to spoil the good things in life, but rather our own fear of ruining them that leads to exactly what we wanted to prevent.

I have grown to love the mantra, “Everything happens for a reason,” because it is so true. We all have somewhere we are supposed to be, we are all divinely guided if we allow ourselves to be. We need to shed the worry, fear, and paranoia, and let the faith, joy, and love flood through. We need to savor every second and trust that the unknown is only unknown to us, but that it has been scoped out for us.

All of us have the potential to be courageous when it comes to embracing change.