This I Believe

-- One of my favorite podcasts/radio programs is "This I Believe" where ordinary, and sometimes not so ordinary, men and women, state their beliefs in short essays, then read them aloud. The program always ends with the host of the show challenging you to write your own personal belief and send it in. I've been meaning to do it for over a year now, and here it is. It's a really great exercise, both for reflection and for writing, and I'd love to hear some of yours. So if you write one of your own, be sure and tag me in it. Key thing to remember: They don't want to hear about what you don't believe, only affirmative statements. Here's my favorite of all-time. It comes from Sister Helen Prejean, the woman Susan Sarrandon portrays in Dead Man Walking: http://www.thisibelieve.com/?s=advanced&type=&firstname=helen&lastname=prejean&content=&city=&state=&country=&age=&advanced_submit=Search --

"Get In Over Your Head"

I believe that life happens when you dive in headfirst.

For a large part of my childhood, I never took any chances. If I couldn’t guarantee that I was going to get back more than I put in, I never bothered trying. That word meant so much to me: Guarantee. I needed certainty and solidity. When you live that way, you don’t end up living much at all.

It wasn’t until I was almost finished with college that I started doing what most people, including my mother, would say is a foolish thing to do:

I started getting in over my head.

I took on projects that I wasn’t sure I had the confidence or the ability to pull off. I realized that if I waited until I was completely ready to do anything; the only thing I’d end up doing is waiting. So I started diving into the deep end, and I found out that the old maxim is true about swimming: Sometimes you do just need to throw yourself into the pool.

Another thing I discovered is that people don’t mind helping you get where you need to go as long as you’re willing to stop and ask for directions. Every time I found myself scrambling to get something done, I’d remember that there were people all around me willing to give me a lift. Pretty soon I found that whereas I always started in over my head, I always wound up at least a few inches above the water.

For the first time in my life, I was saying ‘Yes’ more than ‘No.’ Oh sure, there were times when I should have passed on something, and ended up making some mistakes. This may sound weird—but the mistakes felt exhilarating once the stress of having made them subsided. To know that I could mess up and survive was a completely new feeling for me. Now I know which chances to take, and which to let go, but a lot of the time I still like saying ‘Yes’ just to see what will happen. Very few things in life will kill you, and everything else winds up being a great story.

There was a very real possibility at one point that in the story of my life; I was not going to be the main character. I was predictable and consistent, and I’m happy to say that now I not only feel like the protagonist of my novel, but I think it’s a pretty good book too.

I try new things. I meet great people. I’m constantly surprised by the opportunities life brings you when you leave the door open for them.

I keep getting in over my head, and every time I hit the deep end—that moment when I know I’ve taken on something bigger than myself—the water feels just great.