Life is too short. Eventually, you will look back and realize there are a few things that you wish your current self could tell your past self. One of those things would be to “just take the chance!” You know when you see a shirt you like and you say to yourself, “Do I really need it? Maybe I should think about it” and that thinking about it results in a sold-out shirt and a broken heart? And you think, “Ugh, why didn't I just buy the damn shirt?”
I feel that weight so heavily with so many aspects of my life. I think it's engraved into our souls to plan for what may never come.
Although being prepared is healthy, on the other hand, I think it can be detrimental to our progress if we lean on that too hard. It discourages us from taking the chance. Those leaps of faith are where we grow the most. Far too often we seem to catch ourselves dreaming about the future while forgetting the journey that takes us there. It’s okay to not know what's around the next corner because you're not there yet anyway.
I found myself living too calculated, I always knew what my next move was. However, a curveball is destined to come, IT ALWAYS DOES. A particular curveball hit me like a train a few years back and it made me realize that no amount of planning will save me from that unpredictability.
I realized then that I needed to stop taking those little day-to-day opportunities for granted because they won't always be there waiting for me.
So, from one girl to the next, I beg of you to stop saying “no” too scary things, seize the moment, start your own business, stop overthinking the Instagram post, spend the night in your car, trudge through all of the snowstorms, quit your sucky job you’ve been thinking about quitting for years, drive 16 hours in one day just to see the ocean, learn the guitar at 27, take your 60-year-old mom to the rock concert, hike in 112-degree weather, adopt all three cats, hike four miles in the dark to chase the Milky Way just for one photo, get your car stuck in six inches of clay, etc. Most importantly, buy the damn shirt because before you know it, it will be gone.
And yes, I did do all of these things to build my own business as an adventure photographer and it has all been worth the risk!
- Mahala
