Mel Robbins shares a concept about having the courage to end what no longer works.  Change is a large undertaking on many levels.  The impact is far and wide even if it’s only an impact to our world.  Again, that’s relative. Regardless of the impact, we have the opportunity to determine the amount of impact it has on our lives.  That’s brushing on emotional control again.  We get to decide what we let rock our world so to speak—whether positive or negative.  We choose what we allow to influence us.  So when we are accustomed to something in our lives or to behaving a certain way, engrained habits literally entrench themselves in our neural pathways until our lives, the things we do every day are nearly autonomic.  We live in a state of muscle memory to the point where even our thoughts are the majority the same each day.  So breaking that pattern absolutely takes courage.  It’s venturing into the unknown and learning new feelings, emotions, and reactions.  It’s creating new patterns and responses, understanding that there isn’t one right way for anything.

So when we approach the precipice where we know something is no longer working we have options.  Do we dive in and learn to swim in new waters?  Do we fight the current?  Letting something we can’t control consume us can be fatal—we may still be alive but are we actually living when we let the emotion swallow us up?  No.  The truth is this: ending something we are familiar with removes what we know.  It creates an unknown with options and things we may not fully understand and triggers fear for our safety.  So consciously choosing change is a brave undertaking.  It does require courage.  It requires a new way of living and thinking.  When we take that leap, the entire world feels different—and it is freeing.  All we can do in those moments is embrace it.  And even for the things we don’t choose, when the unexpected happens, we still have the choice to reorient and approach it in a healthier way.  We can dive into life or we can avoid it by pretending we are in control.  We always have options, even when it feels like we are up against a wall.  Just because one door is closed, it doesn’t mean we can’t create our own door.  Some paths require more work than others—but there is always a way if we are brave enough to pursue it.