I fell in love with Gregory Porter sometime last year. His music is jazzy, original and real. One of my favorite songs of his is called, “But Beautiful.” (Here is a link to Gregory’s live performance of the song in Germany.)
This line hit home for me:
Love is tearful or it’s gay. It’s a problem or it’s play. It’s a heartache either way…
Over the last five years, I’ve built two different businesses, lived in a dozen different cities and experienced several different romantic relationships. Although I’ve enjoyed the feelings of happiness, success and freedom through my lifestyle, I’ve also had my share of loneliness, failure, doubt, confusion, disappointment and heartbreak along the way.
Every time I try something new in my personal or professional life, there’s a risk that it won’t “work out.” (I wrote about this extensively in my post on moving to Hawaii.)
But what I’ve discovered is the real risk is not in failing…it’s in NOT TRYING at all. The real risk is in never knowing what your life could be like if only you took a chance on yourself.
Through it all, I remain grateful for the growth that comes from stepping out on faith, again and again – in life, in business and in love.
So back to my man Gregory Porter…
The song says:
Beautiful to take a chance and if you fall, you fall…
When you break it down to the most simplistic level, life encompasses two sides of the same coin – the good and the bad.
In business, there are highs and lows. In relationships, there are ups and downs. In life overall, you win some and you lose some.
What Gregory’s amazing song reminds us is that all of it – the good AND the bad – is beautiful.
All of it is beautiful.
No matter what happens on the way to your destination, the journey will ALWAYS be worth it. The mistakes you make, the failures you experience and the heartache you endure may be painful, but the lessons you learn from it all are what make life interesting, rich and meaningful.
Choose to have a FULL life instead of one that is limited by fear.
Trust yourself. You can handle whatever comes your way.
I’m sure of it.
Leave a comment: When was the last time you took a chance on yourself? What did you learn from the experience?
Rosetta Thurman is a nationally-recognized author, speaker, mentor and coach dedicated to helping women create their ideal lives.
I always take chances on myself. I make my risks or chances too hard because I don’t have money saved and it’s crippling my personal life. I have got to do better in my finances.
This is a great post. It’s always scary to take a leap, but it’s worse to not try at all and live with regrets. I’m taking a chance on a few things right now. It took a while to get here, but it feels like the right idea.
Hi Rosetta, I happened upon your website in March. Since then, I have resigned from a job as a school administrator and started my own educational consulting business. I also just accepted a great job as an education consultant with a leading professional development company-more money, more freedom- just what I had prayed for. I made a decision to leave my job and wonderful things began to happen. There were many times that I said to myself “What the heck did you do??!!”, but I know I made the right decision and that BIG things are ahead for me! Thanks so much for your website; it propelled me forward!
I am hesitating right now on taking a chance on myself!!! And I am so glad I read this post. I have a self care initiative for black women and been at a stand still for about 3 months now on what to do and where to go with it. Truth be told I know exactly what to do and have been afraid to take that chance. Well no more! Cause lets face it…if I am not willing to bet on myself who else will :)
Rosetta thank you for this amazingly insightful post. I continue to take a chance on myself as I press through starting my own business. I boldly stepped on the other side of fear and am no longer afraid to fail I am more afraid of stopping the forward motion that I am taking. I realize that investing in myself will empower the women I serve to see the power of investing in themselves also. Thank you for helping me along my journey by being true and transparent and arming me with with tried and true tools to propel me forward. -forever grateful!
Everyday in every way. Always and in all ways.
The last time I took a chance on myself was going to graduate school. I had no idea that I could do it. I had to fight fear, and words people had spoken over my life in my youth. I remember how afraid I was on my first day of class. I wanted to burst out in tears like kindergartner whose parent was leaving them at school for the first time. It was a struggle fighting with the inner turmoil, but I fought with everything I had in me. By the grace of God, I made it through graduate school. It was a struggle, but it was well worth it!!! I learned so much about myself. I learned that I am stronger that I give myself credit to be. I also learned when I step out on faith everything falls into its rightful place.
What a great story, Monique! Thank you so much for sharing it here :) We are all so much stronger than we think.
It has been a long time, and with good reason. Currently rebuilding my life, so it may be a while for me before taking any “what if?” chances. Should be more willing to take a chance on myself by the end of this year/beginning of 2015. :-)
Nice to see you here, as usual :) I’m curious…if you were willing to take a chance on yourself right now, what would it be?
My apologies; I thought I responded. Hopefully a late response is better than none at all.
I’d take a chance on dating and/or rejoining events in my Meetup groups.