A New Thing
Photo taken from: http://www.danaarcuri.com/blog/god-is-doing-a-new-thing – also a great post!
I visited Atlanta for the first time while I was in high school participating in a college tour – from that moment I knew I wanted to attend college there. A few years later I moved to Atlanta, fulfilling my dream of living in a city with one of the highest number of influential and esteemed African Americans. I LOVE(d) the vibrancy of Atlanta, the cultural flavor, the food, the music, the diversity of the landscape – for people who affectionately know the saying “from Bankhead to Buckhead” can understand this adoration. I enjoyed every fabric of Atlanta, as well as the experiences I had while living there. I didn’t think I would ever leave. But life and career aspirations would have my life go a different way. In 2001 I left Atlanta after living there for four years. BUT in 2007 I returned! I was – once again – in the city of all my loves :-). 10 years passed and once again, I thought Atlanta was home. HOWEVER, in 2017 I accepted a job in North Carolina..
This fall I will celebrate – yes celebrate – two years of living in North Carolina. The town where I live is NOTHING like Atlanta. Not nearly as diverse, not as vibrant, not as lively … not a place I sought out or thought I would ever live. But my transition has been nothing less than fulfilling, purposeful, and timely. Atlanta was home … or my 2nd home. There are comforts in home. There is familiarity in home. There is safety in home. Starting over is hard. Meeting new people is hard. Forming new relationships and being vulnerable enough to trust people is hard. But I do believe there are times when we are called to completely change our environments in order to grow, be elevated, and ultimately serve.
Understandably so, it can be nerve wrecking and even paralyzing to move. Change is hard. With this in mind, I challenge you to explore the beauty in embracing change. Have you become too comfortable? Too safe? Too relaxed? Too familiar? What is holding you back from moving to a new neighborhood? A new job? A new relationship (including a more intimate relationship with yourself by being single)? A new state? It can be scary. There is a lot of unknown. But my perspective is if you don’t give it a try, you’ll never know. If it doesn’t work, in more cases than not, you can go back to what you left. Take a risk; give it a try; test the waters :-)!
Let me also add that it is tempting to move to something new – anything – and remain in a state of constant comparison. My old [insert what you left here] was better because … in my old […] I had or didn’t have … I encourage you to move on to the new and embrace it 150%! Hindsight can be deceiving – things can look incredibly better than they actually are when we haven’t fully embraced where we are. So not only do I encourage you to take a risk, but I encourage you to be fully present in your new reality. Give it a try FULLY. Resist the urge to compare. Embrace your new season :-).