What got you here won’t get you there

I’m noticing something.

While the uncertain times we’re living through have caused many of us to cling to the familiar, I’m seeing an equally powerful counterforce:

A deep desire for purpose, meaning, and alignment.

Our brains may be wired for safety but our souls are not dead. There appears to be a growing perspective of—sorry—fuck it.

If we’re all going down, I want my time here to matter!

If everything is uncertain anyway, I want to just go for it!

If it’s impossible to predict where we’ll be in 5 years, never mind 20, I want to stop worrying so much about the future and focus on what’s meaningful to me right now.

Whether yours is of the fuck-it variety or just a regular ole yearning for change, glimpses of your true desires are a jolt to the system.

They’re a reminder that there’s more to life than paying bills and checking boxes. They’re a window into what your heart is calling you to do.

They’re probably also where you’re getting stuck.

This is because making big changes, almost by definition, requires a different approach. Which is uncomfortable.

Here’s how most of us approach decision points in life:

• Try to “figure it out” with our minds instead of listening with our bodies.

• Expect other people to determine or validate our choices.

• Be convinced there’s a “right” way.

Most likely, these strategies led you to your current circumstances—many of which may be wonderful, and some of which you may have wanted to change for a long time and haven’t.

I’m pretty sure this is what whoever said it first meant when they said “what got you here won’t get you there.”

You want something in your life to change but you’re attempting to make that change with the same set of tools—the same thinking, the same actions, the same level of willingness—that got you the thing you no longer want.

Sounds a little crazy when you hear it that way, huh?

Don’t feel bad. I do it too. We all do.

The good news is, I have a hunch about the one capacity that’s an antidote for whatever variation of this pattern you’re running:

Trust in your ability to adjust—to make another choice if the one you made doesn’t pan out the way you hoped.

Really think about how freeing that would be.

If you had complete belief in your ability to redirect any situation, there’d be nothing to fear.

This is a capacity you can develop.

If you’re skeptical, notice if that’s a familiar stance for you. Is it part of what got you here?

If so, I invite you to consider that it may not be what gets you there.