“The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers.” (Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled)
I love that insight from Scott Peck. You will find that quote in Chapter 2 of my book, The Anxious Christian, where I talk about the importance of “Welcoming Uncertainty” into our lives. It’s a concept that I believe to be critically important to our growth.
In my previous post on anxiety I talked about “embracing anxiety”. It’s an important movement, because when we can embrace our anxiety, we then put ourselves in a new position of uncertainty in life. Because for most of us we have probably tried to either get rid of anxiety, or bury, medicate it, or pretend it doesn’t exist. Anxiety creates uncertainty and leaves us with a lot of “what if” questions. So once we embrace it we have done the courageous work of then moving into some uncertainty in our lives. And as Peck writes above, it’s usually in these places that new ways or truth emerges for us. We just never created the space for it to emerge.
So though it is scary…embrace your anxiety (i.e. acknowledge it to yourself and share with others), and sit for a bit in a season of uncertainty in your life and see what is born out of that place.
One of the things you can do in this season is to just make a list of all the “what if” questions you are wrestling with. Just put them on paper and take stock of them. In that place you can do a couple of different things, whether that be just acknowledging that they are there, praying through them, or making a symbolic gesture of letting go of the power that they have in your life. One exercise I recommend in my book in Chapter 2 is making a “life line” which is a great way to look at your life in a hands on, creative way.
