The Box

The easiest thing to do in life is stick to the status quo. It’s the way it is, it’s what we are used to, so why change it? Do what you are good at and you’ll be alright.

I have had a huge fear of failure for as long as I can remember. Making a mistake in class? I cried. Missing a serve in volleyball? My heart breaks even thinking about it. The missed last second shot from my final high school basketball game? Yeah, it still plays in my head and eats me alive.

Failure has always been one thing I ran from. In an attempt to stop failing I would only do things I was already good at. I quit guitar before I ever gave it a chance, I focused on the sports and clubs I’d been doing for years. New things were scary because the struggle of starting new looked like failure to me.

Failure became synonymous with struggling, learning, growing. Everything you need to move forward in life was what I tried to avoid just for the sake of staying comfortable. Until I learned how special that space is just outside the box called my comfort zone.

I could have settled for average, never taking a risk, being safe and just skating through life on what I already knew. I would have missed so much if I let that fear control me.

I stepped outside the box when I became a State Officer. I put it all on the line and I gained friendships, confidence, and an experience I could have missed out on.

I stepped outside the box when I traveled to a new continent by myself. I was so scared of what I was missing at home, but the best day of my life happened in South Africa and the memories I made those 2 weeks can never be erased.

I stepped outside the box when I took the stage at Miss Wyoming USA 2021, and while some saw the result as a failure I was able to call it something so much more, and that is why I’m putting on my heels and walking out there again.

So much of the good I have experienced in my life has come with a little discomfort, a lot of work, and a chance I could have ignored.

Life is a lot shorter than most of us hope it to be. It would be incredibly easy to let it pass by while you sit inside your comfortable box of safety.

But I’m here to live, not let time pass by.

I want to make as many memories as I can, take every chance I am given, and when my time is up I will know I did everything I could to make it worthwhile. I don’t care who thinks I am wasting my time or energy, it’s my life.

I want to live- really live- and I refuse to stay inside the box.

Photo Creds: JH Photography