Stop being a Scaredy Cat. It’s time to grow.

I try to Facetime with my nine-month old niece pretty regularly.  Beyond being totally freaking adorable, she’s at the fabulous stage where she is changing every day. Lately she’s been obsessed with learning to climb the stairs. She’s also been flirting pretty seriously with taking her first unassisted steps.

This morning, I watched her grab onto the edge of a table and pull herself up to stand.  As an aunt and a yogi it was magical!

I also saw her contemplate taking her first steps. Truly considering stepping away from the table toward her mother.

She let go of the table with one hand, turned her whole body toward my sister and made the face of someone trying to figure out how to do the impossible.  After what felt like an eternity of waiting for her to take a step, she turned back, put her other hand on the table and chose to stay put.

Just like that the moment was over.

So why am I sharing this?

Because most of us approach change and growth the same way my niece did. We flirt with taking the first steps into a new world, hesitate, turn around and tighten our grip around what we already know. And just like that we get stuck.

But here’s the thing. Growth only happens when we let go and surrender to the unknown.

It turns out we’re a bunch of scaredy cats when it comes to loosening our grip on the world we know. Even when we’re deeply unhappy with the way things are, the thought of surrendering to the unknown is more discomfort than we’re willing to tolerate.

If you’re getting a little uncomfortable because you know its time to stop white knuckling something in your life, then you are good company.  We’re all scaredy cats – including me.

November challenged me to grow in every aspect of my life as an entrepreneur, a yogi, a teacher and a wife. While many of the changes are super exciting, they are also wildly uncomfortable and scaring the crap out of me.

For instance, I’ve been pushed to redefine WHY I practice and teach yoga. Not something I often question, but it had to be done because both had become stale. The passion, obsession and wholeheartedness I had once experienced for yoga was missing.

So what did I do? I softened my white knuckling around my old why, and opened myself up to exploring a new one. Two days in I was feeling so raw and shaken that I briefly contemplated if I should be teaching yoga at all.

Its at this point I could have turned back, said the hell with it and quit.

But I didn’t. I sat with all the scary emotions and just watched. And watched. For a whole week in an intense training I watched and listened. And I realized I’m not a bad yogi or out of love with the practice.

Instead I realized I have a new WHY emerging, and that in order to satisfy that WHY I have to submit to growth.

Sometimes like my niece, you may not know why its time to do something new. You just know that your gut is telling you its time to change something.

You might try to ignore it. Or panic. Or want to give up and quit. DON’T.

I want you to give in. To surrender. And to stop being a scaredy cat. I want you to gain the exciting and adventurous benefits of growing. And I want you to stop waiting, because there is no time like the present to live a more fulfilling life.

Are you already thinking about changes you want to make? I would love to hear about them. Leave a comment below or email me.