BOLD Changes

Once you commit to something risky and bold,

life unfolds with increasing richness and wonder.

Hell or High Water: Surviving Tibet's Tsangpo Gorge

by Peter Heller

This is a year of BOLD changes for me.

I know not everyone likes change, and certainly many of the changes last year were not ones that I enjoyed.

What intrigues me about the drastic differences we all experienced are the new perspectives they offered.

Several years ago, I started examining and considering what sort of life I wanted to live. I was defining my core values and how I want to see them played out in my day-to-day routines. My journals at that time are filled with lots of ideas, and the recurring phrase,

“I want a radically different life.”

I started working on that radically different life by first deliberating in my thoughts and then describing it in my journal. Shortly afterwards, I began moving toward the vision I had designed.

Last year interrupted so many pieces of my life it isn’t funny.

Plans, purposes and personal relationships were all strained and changing. Not just the shutdowns and bigger picture happenings, but also the intimate and personal in me and around me — everything and everyone was in flux and uncertain.

I saw this in the lives of friends and family too. So many stressors and struggles and sorrows.

2021 has not brought us instant relief nor returned us to normal.

Neither has it stopped me from opening new doors.

Though slower than I wish at times, the progress toward a “radically different life” continues. And with every change my vision keeps getting clearer, in each facet of my life — whether it’s work, personal relationships, or creative hobbies.

I’m a big believer in the power of tiny, everyday choices

to produce large, lasting results.

I’m also a believer in the benefits of big, bold, shifts

to dramatically alter the direction & nature of a life.

We all experience both kinds of changes in our lives. You make small, daily choices about what to eat or what to study, and eventually you become healthier or receive a diploma. You decide to get married or move to another city, and life is suddenly, dramatically different.

I know we need both kinds of change in our lives. I know I need to be intentional about either kind of change if it’s going to actually work. And I know there are elements of both types of change in any move that I make.

And I know this is a year of BOLD changes for me.

Tell me:

What kind of changes do you want or need in your life this year?

Do they require tiny, daily decisions or dramatic, sudden ones?

Which kind of change is easier for you?