Find the Courage to Shift Directions

I’m getting ready to travel across the country to my daughter’s graduation and we’re really excited to celebrate with her. Of course she is excited too, but the last few weeks have also been full of anxiety, questioning, and self-doubt on her part. Like achieving any big goal, there’s the “what’s next?” part of it. While my daughter is so proud of herself, making the decision of what to do after college isn’t easy.  

It reminds me of the podcast/blog I did almost four years ago about demonstrating courage. In part of it, I shared the story of my daughter’s friend moving to London to go to college. It had been her goal all through high school, but when it came time to stay in a country far away from her friends and family, it was really, really hard. I’m now seeing that the resulting next “big step” of graduating from college can be just as scary!  

So what can we do when we’re faced with the happiness of achievement and the uncertainty of not having that next big goal?

Sometimes, the answer is to simply rest and recover. You don’t have to jump into the next big decision if that doesn’t feel right; instead, you can focus on making a series of small decisions to help create the clarity you need to move forward. 

Whether it’s making those small changes, deciding on your next big goal, or even course-correcting from a past choice that just doesn’t work anymore, you are going to need courage. That’s because often, the most courageous thing you can do is decide on the direction that’s best for YOU. 

I invite you to revisit this podcast/blog on How to Be Courageous in Your Life, to remind yourself that you can do hard things - even when that hard thing is simply deciding what to do next.