I was talking to my students yesterday about the importance of doing the things that make us nervous, how it builds strength and character to overcome fears to do something worthwhile. As I was walking in the evening I saw a blind woman crossing the street in NYC and I thought of the bravery it takes to walk the world without sight, to walk the city without sight. Today I'm thinking about how much bravery, how much courage it takes to change. I have long thought of myself as adventurous but there are many, many ways that I hang onto the known, to the old. I can't even bring myself to give up my old cell phone! I tend to place value on the old because I don't like waste or consuming just to consume or innovation that seats us further from our center... but I realize that I also hold and value the old because it's a known entity. There's such comfort in what is known. But little adventure or learning.
I used to think of stepping into the unknown as jumping off a cliff. I like this metaphor because it has in it both a decided initially willful act and an effortless entry into adventure... jumping to free fall through air...
