Is this the sign you’ve been waiting for?

Taking a leap into the unknown can be an amazing thing

What exactly are you waiting for? Is it a sign from the universe? Maybe you want somebody to give you permission, or perhaps you’re waiting for a personal invitation?

Now, I haven’t said anything about what the circumstances of your situation are that you’re stuck waiting in. Quite frankly, there are so many things that it could be. Applying for that job, asking for that person’s number, confronting your professor about a bad grade, leaving a toxic work environment or friend group, and the list goes on.

What’s holding you back from taking that leap and doing the hard thing? For many of us, it is that feeling of fear – fear of the unknown, fear of what the possible outcome may be, fear of how it will affect other people, and fear of how other people may react to our decision. I’m sure that I’m not the only one who thinks more of the negative impacts that my decisions may have on other people than the negative impacts they may have on me. This is part of how I always get roped into doing so many things, and being unable to say no when someone asks for a favour.

Believe me, I know it’s easier said than done to just not be afraid of those things and do whatever it is that you want to do. To commit 100 per cent to the act and be prepared to face whatever might come of it is absolutely terrifying. The thoughts that won’t stop swirling through your head about whether this is really a good idea can be deafening.

I wish that I could tell you that I have the secret recipe for how to quiet all those doubts that are screaming at you. I wish I could say that I have cracked the code to not giving a fuck and doing whatever you think will bring you the most joy. I can’t do that. I care too much about all of this, and these concerns are just as loud in my head as they are in all of yours. Being a nervous individual who cares too much about too many things, this is something that I am far from mastering.

The one and only thing that I can suggest is to hold onto the memories of the times that doing those things didn’t backfire in your face, because we all know that there are times that it definitely will backfire. That one instance where things didn’t go horrible wrong can be enough of a push to keep trying for those kinds of outcomes.

For me, one instance that I always go back to is the policing course that I took when I was in high school. For those unfamiliar with these programs, Regina has a campus where grade 11 and 12 students from the public high schools can go and take courses in a wide variety of disciplines like policing, EMT, cosmetology, education, welding, and the list stretches on. As I have already established, I have an impossible time saying no to people. This is one of few times where I was able to do that and reap the benefits because of it. Naturally, at that age is when your friends always want to do everything together and you plan your lives together all the time, and so my friends were determined to have me participate in their health studies course. This sounded less than appealing to me and I was having a horrible time trying to figure out how I could justify getting out of this.

While touring the programs I ended up stopping into their policing program, known more formally as the Law Public Safety and Security (LPSS) course. Looking at me, this is not a course that you would expect me to be a part of. There were unflattering uniforms, drills, intense physical conditioning, and was also a primarily male-dominated course. Despite all of that, I was instantly drawn to the structure and the content of the course, as it took a deep dive in Psychology and Law, was developed and run by the school’s constable and a part-time jail guard, and was an experience I knew that I could never get in a regular classroom setting. When it came time to fill out forms, my checkmark went beside the LPSS box instead of health science. Were my friends super happy about that decision? Not particularly. Did they support me after seeing how much joy this program brought me? You bet they did. This program is one of the big reasons I initially fell in love with Psychology and wanted to pursue it in post-secondary, it kick-started all my major health habits, and it proved to me that I could do things that I had never dreamed of being able to accomplish.

You can take my experience with a grain of salt if you wish. Honestly, sometimes I don’t even know if I should hold the memories as fondly as I do. Regardless, consider this your sign, your permission, your handwritten invitation to go and do the thing. That thing that you thought about at the beginning of this article that you’re worried about doing and are looking for push to do it – consider this your push. Seize the opportunity for all its worth, and even if it ends poorly, at least you can say that you tried.