A Journey of Growth
Learning to Fly
Birds do not carry their possessions with them. This allows them to be light as a feather and soar high into the sky. This is essential for freedom. Me and my newly declared wife are like two birds that are about to set off onto a cross-pacific migration. Our destination is someplace in Asia.
Key life experiences have led us to this point. When everyone is first conceived, what you know is just the environment inside your mother’s belly. Then we are born into a big wide world but our perspective only gradually grows throughout our lives. From our crib, to our home, our city, state, country, and then the world, and beyond. Like a bird that starts its life inside a nest. The chick gets curious and first peeks out little by little before it takes the big step of leaving the nest to embark on the world.
Comfort can lead to a lot of unfavorable things such as laziness, obesity, and worst of all: a fixed mindset.
The nest is a comfortable place and it’s difficult to leave your comfort zone.
It’s common to want a change of pace, a change of setting, or maybe to widen your perspective on cultures around the world. But there is a big difference between wanting and actually doing. It’s easy to follow the golden path of a stable job with a 401k, saving for a house, a comfortable life. Comfort is not always a good sign though. Comfort can lead to a lot of unfavorable things such as laziness, obesity, and worst of all: a fixed mindset. On the flipside, discomfort can be great. Like when doing a workout, the stress and exertion on your body makes both your body and mind stronger. Discomfort is a catalyst for change and improvement.
Failure is part of the process by design– it’s how birds learn to fly.
In the martial art of jiu-jitsu, when you are smothered underneath someone attempting to choke you out or put you in an armlock, you feel awkward, vulnerable and helpless: it’s the epitome of discomfort. You are challenged in an unimaginably number of ways that will test you mentally and physically. The reward is becoming a better human being. The only requirement is that you show up. It takes a special kind of person to show up knowing that your ego will be beaten day in and day out. You can transform into a different person in the process. As an introvert, I walked in as a self-conscious and timid person. Overtime I’m becoming more confident, comfortable in hairy situations, and less risk-averse. We learned that failure is part of the process by design– it’s how birds learn to fly. You have to be willing to struggle and be bad at something if you want to get better.
Wandering Further From the Nest
We have taken part in a myriad of activities that have contributed to our personal growth journey: jiu-jitsu, yoga, meditation, camping, backpacking, and traveling abroad. These were baby steps. Each time we experience something new it encourages us to wander a little further from the nest than the last time. Taking action leads to happiness. If you aren’t afraid you aren’t taking the necessary risks to challenge yourself. Challenges are imperative to growth. Fear is an indicator that you’re in the right path.
Wandering out and trying new experiences leads to growth.
Embrace the journey. Focus on what you’ve learned instead of the destination. There is no good or bad if you look at decisions in this manner. You always win because you’ll always learn and learning is growing. The most important thing for life to flourish is growth. When we stop growing, we stagnate and wither.
The knowledge you gain from one life experience can be applied to every facet in life; investment in knowledge is compounded by nature.
Leaving the Nest
When on the path to personal growth, the only direction you can take is forward. Your intention will be made clear by your experiences in life, you only have to be open and aware to receive it. It will be common to have realizations that everything travels full circle in your life. The lessons you learn replay themselves in countless situations. The knowledge you gain from one life experience can be applied to every facet in life; investment in knowledge is compounded by nature.
We became blue belts in jiu-jitsu. We took camping and backpacking trips across state lines. We traveled abroad on several occasions. We worked and saved for 5 years. Lived in the same city for 10 years. The next logical step on our journey was obvious.
Having less actually makes you cherish what you do have that much more.
Our checklist for takeoff is already made. We are checking each line off one by one before our cross-pacific migration. Within our list are things like selling and donating our material possessions, getting married, and quitting our day jobs. We are excited to widen our horizons through creating rich life experiences while shedding unnecessary burdens. It’s easy to get caught up in the culture of consumerism in society. We have found that we only need very little to be happy. Having less actually makes you cherish what you do have that much more. Love, relationships, health, and life are what we cherish the most. And no matter where we are, we are happy as long as we’re together and every morning that the sun rises we can hear the birds singing.
