What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?
I don’t have a good answer for this today because I’ve already done something that I was most scared to do. I’ve written about this a LOT, but especially with this question today, it’s worth mentioning again. Last spring I was thinking about quitting my job. I had been a teacher for 18 years and the one year that I was a principal was slowly killing me. I wanted to quit, but this job was all I had ever known. I had only ever worked at this one school. If I quit, where would I work? What would I do with my life afterwards? In fact, I actually did quit once last year, but then I changed my mind before too many people found out about it.
What did it take for me to do it? A phone call from my “mentor”. One phone call. From one woman. Initially I questioned how I could let that one phone call make me turn my back on it all. To walk away from a job that I spent two years in grad school prepping for. Grad school that I paid for out of pocket. I questioned God. How could He get me to change my mind about quitting and make me actually excited about the future in that role just to have my “mentor” call me last Holy Thursday? But it was necessary. If that woman hadn’t called me and talked to me the way she did, I wouldn’t have left. God knew I needed to get out of there and He knew what it would take. It worked.
I quit that job, as terrified as I was. I had no job lined up to go to when I left. I had money saved in preparation and my husband was still working. Financially, we were going to be o.k. And so was I. The day I made my decision public was incredibly difficult because I knew I couldn’t take it back once it was out there. I mean, I could, but I didn’t.
Sometimes the things that terrify us the most are the things we most need to do. Don’t be afraid to do them! It’s worth it!
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