As my good friends at Four Story Creative pointed out last week with a tweet of a quote by Peter McWilliamson: "To the degree we're not living our dreams, our comfort zone has more control of us than we have over ourselves.”
Today, we had our first big team meeting where the entire Unreasonable team was able to finally be together all in the same room. It was truly inspiring to get our heads out of the nitty-gritty details that we've been living in for the past six months and realize, once again, the big picture of what we're doing here and why we're doing it.
On a personal note, my reason for coming on this adventure is more about following the crowd. I wouldn't describe myself as a very adventurous person, and yet, I find myself in the middle of Texas shooting the gathering of bull DNA, or in a hotel room interviewing a couple whose son is on death row, or sitting on a pile of snow at the bottom of the earth filming a bunch of lounging elephant seals. I don't think I'd get out of bed if it weren't for the positive pressures of my adventurous friends and husband.
I was afraid for the longest time to come along on this four-month journey away from home, but with each turn and new piece of information, Matt and I just kept landing on, "Let's do this!" I was afraid to leave our comfy house, and afraid to leave little Chester the cat, and afraid to leave the comforts of having a grocery store down the street and safe drinking water to come out of every faucet. I feared being homesick and especially feared all that would happen and move on back home while we were gone. I didn't want to miss out on a moment!
But, here I was today, surrounded by 18 people who have also left their lives for four months to be a part of a world changing experiment which will bring some of the world's most forward thinkers and technology creators together to immerse themselves in the world rather than step back and point out the things that need to change. For a moment I felt out of place, but then I thought, if I didn't fit here, I wouldn't be here.
George Kimmel brought up a talk that he had heard where a person talked about bravery. He mentioned that we always think of bravery as the absence of fear or vulnerability. We think that there are moments when we are brave and moments when we are scared, but this just isn't true. Bravery and fear go hand-in-hand. For every moment that a person is being brave and facing a fear, they are screaming out inside themselves, "what the heck did I just get myself into?!"
No good adventure is worth doing if you're doing it in your comfort zone. It might feel nice, but it's not challenging you to change. It's not challenging you to follow your dreams or to ignite your creativity.
I was inspired today to take life by the horns and not allow my fears to control me. They will still be there, but as the Unreasonable Group's values state, I will lean into them.
Tomorrow morning we pack up this house and head to the ship for orientation. Whatever happens, we're going to come back to the States with a lot of learnings.
Todays take-way: Follow your dreams. Live outside your comfort zone.
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