Choosing more than okay

I’m sitting at one of the most beautiful campsites I’ve ever been to. It is overlooking a valley and the horizon is majestic mountains every direction you turn. The beauty of this place is also a bit precarious though. Because I am high up and a bit exposed, I can also see the clouds rolling in, and they are darker than I would prefer. There are a few storms rolling in that may or may not come my way.

I drove by several other campsites that were more protected before I settled on this one. These spots would have still been a great home for a few days but the views weren’t quite the same. I would absolutely be safer if I stayed a bit lower and tucked into the trees, but then I wouldn’t have such an incredible view to wake up to. It would have been a perfectly okay campsite but nothing more.

But that is life right!? If you want the best views, you may have to sacrifice the safety of the trees. Life can feel okay all the time or we can take a few calculated risks and be rewarded by incredible views.

It is so easy to get sucked into the safety of an okay life. Feeling okay with life is not always a bad thing. Sometimes feeling as if life is completely ordinary is the best thing for us. If we are used to a chaotic life, an okay life can feel like a necessary respite.

But what I am learning is that life can be exponentially more than okay. It took me a long time to feel courageous enough to move past an ordinary life. Because part of me felt guilty about wanting more when nothing was actually wrong with my life. So often we can get sucked into the idea that wanting the most out of life is selfish.

I am not a believer in this way of thinking anymore. I fully believe that everyone is worthy of having an exceptional life. No matter who you are or what you’ve been through, we all deserve the campsite with the incredible views. There will always be a risk to reaching for more in life but if we don’t, there will never be quite the reward.

I have also found that life is always going to change and challenge us no matter what we or do or do not do. These challenges come regardless of how we show up in the world. There truly is no way to prevent change from occurring. There is often a false belief that if we protect ourselves by staying small and safe, we can avoid the challenges of life.

Unfortunately, most of life is out of our control. We cannot control what changes come our way. The storms arrive no matter what we do to protect ourselves. All we can do is trust that our preparation is sufficient to weather the storm, have the courage to ride out the waves and faith that something incredible will come from it all.

Trust, courage and faith. These three things are necessary ingredients of a well lived life. Trust that you are worthy of all the best things in life. Courage to take the risks that feel aligned with your being even when nobody else understands. And lastly, faith that every change is a necessary step forward.

When you begin to walk through life with trust, courage and faith, your life will be everything but ordinary. There is limitless potential for life to be extraordinary when you carry these three values. Having an okay life will slip quietly into the past, where it belongs.

This idea, of risking a little for a lot of reward, still terrifies me to no end. I often wonder if an okay life might be easier at times. But then, the storm that I hoped wouldn’t come, rolled into my campsite. As the rain subsided, the sun peaked through the clouds and I was able to witness the most magical double rainbow right over my head.

It felt like a beautiful reminder that of course the storms will come no matter where we are in life. But if we position ourselves well, we will almost always be rewarded with the rainbow after.

Picking out a campsite may seem like a silly example of how to move through life with trust, courage and faith but I disagree. Every time we implement these tools in our lives, no matter how small or insignificant the action, it changes us for the better.

Life is meant to be extraordinary. Next time life starts to feel a little too ordinary, perhaps it’s time to get curious. Are you living with trust, courage and faith or something else?