I recently took up Yoga. Like, very recently. It’s been just under 2 weeks. I’ve done 3 classes to date and after intense muscle soreness and surprise I’m close to being hooked on a new (for me) form of both full body workout and relaxation that I didn’t know before. It’s something new for me that I’ve embraced, and surprisingly I’m loving it. But, it didn’t start there, in fact on the very first day I decided to go, I got to the room, saw a full class of women and almost chickened out, saying to myself, “there’s no way I’m going to put myself in this situation, not knowing what I’m doing and having to learn as I go along in front of all of them, no way!” (Note: I’m chuckling to myself as I write this because in hindsight the moment I’m describing is kinda humourous) My pride, whether at the time it be “masculine macho pride” or not, literally almost got in the way of experiencing something that has turned out to be pretty positive and beneficial to me.

The initial situation was incredibly uncomfortable. Even though I had already made my mind up about trying yoga out, I had thought about it for months prior, read and heard about all of its benefits and had decided that yes I am going to go try this thing out. Even with a prior commitment to it, I was there, looking into the room as the first class was about to begin and I was considering turning around.

Why?

Because I was uncomfortable.

I actually even walked back to the change-room and was considering doing my regular workout regimen for the day. As I was walking back to the change-room though something was speaking to me inside. Something was telling me that I came to the gym to take that class, and I should follow through on that commitment I had already made in my mind. Even though I was pretty uncomfortable about putting myself into unknown territory, and didn’t know everything there was to know about where I was about to go. There was also the group of people in the class I considered to be “experts” whom I felt I would look ridiculous in front of because I “didn’t know what I was doing”. All of these factors almost lead me to lose out on an experience that two weeks later I’m finding is contributing positively to me in ways I didn’t even consider originally.

I use the above examples to say this: How many times have we neglected to go in a direction in our lives simply because it felt a bit uncomfortable to do so? Perhaps pride got in the way, or maybe it was just the fear of the unknown that stopped us from pursuing that desire. What’s crazy is that, the unknown is only one step away from being “the known”, and even though there’s just one step between the two, one has to actually take that step, and make that leap. To illustrate my point, I’m making use of a simple yoga example, but my “yoga” story may be your “desire to start a small business” story, or it may be the new job opportunity you want to pursue, or that new place you’ve wanted to travel to for some time now, or that new project you’ve been meaning to start, or that passion you want to pursue. All things we’ve already thought about, considered, and decided in our minds we’d love to do at some point, but because the time isn’t perfect, just haven’t gotten to it.

My father once gave me a quote he heard that’s stuck with me forever and it reads: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the possible.” And let me tell you, those words couldn’t be more true. The “perfect time” never comes. There will always be reasons not to start on your dreams. Always. In fact there quite often may be more reasons not to start, than to start! Comfort is a heck of a thing. It’s said to be the thing we should all strive for, and while I believe comfort is a great thing, I also feel that at times it does us a huge disservice. Because too much comfort, can sometimes lead to a lack of new experiences. We get comfortable with life’s “workouts” and we feel we are completely okay with just that. Thus we shy away from experiencing the new “yoga classes” around us. The unknown makes us, uncomfortable.

I know it’s hard sometimes to go out on the limb, but (at the risk of sounding a bit cliché) that’s where the fruit is. I’m experiencing this as we speak, as I embark on this crazy new chapter of my life as an entrepreneur where I’m literally putting myself out there with endeavors I’ve never before taken on. To be completely honest, most days I feel very uncomfortable, but that feeling doesn’t last and many great things have come and are coming from my decision to take a chance on things that I deeply believe in, and just go for it. I know I’m not alone on that either. Many of you can probably say the same for experiences you’ve had in your own lives. I’ve always said, two things are for sure. We will all die one day, and we’ll always be sure to fail from time to time. I can’t come back from death, but I can most certainly come back from failure. I’d rather try, and fail, than to not try at all.

So with that I ask this: is there a “yoga class” that you’re on the outside looking into? Are you literally standing at the door of life’s “yoga studio”, on the fence about whether or not to go in, simply because the unknown and uncomfortable nature of it all make you nervous? If so, open the door, walk in and take the class. Because you never know, you may gain a sense of flexibility you never even knew you had.

#KeepGoing

Jj