Andre Gide said “Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of familiar shores.”
What I love about this quote is that it’s got an inherent built-in conflict. Oh sure, it’s easy to let go of familiar shores when they’re undesirable, unwanted, or negative. If I hate my job, it’s easy to quit (assuming I have an alternative, but even that isn’t always necessary for many folks). But what about those shores that we love? What about the times when, in order to pursue your brave new ocean, your “Big Hairy Audacious Goal,” that new dream…. you have to leave something good behind? I can’t help but ask this question and not think of that Semisonic song Closing Time and the line: “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” Sometimes those endings are good things that we let go of to move on to better things. And so often what holds us back from stepping into “greatness” is that we feel safe and comfortable in our “goodness.” If you are struggling with stepping into something new, scary, risky but desirable, and can’t seem to let go, ask yourself if it’s because what you are letting go of is actually quite good. If so, then find a way to honor and acknowledge it, knowing that moving on is not a negative judgement of that which you are letting go.
Think about it this way: there are hundreds of examples of this in our everyday lives. We leave the life of being single, which often is a very happy time in our lives, to enter into married life which for many is an even happier, more fulfilling time in our lives. We leave the safety and security of our parent’s house to move out on our own and live adventurous, independent lives. Every morning we leave the cozy warmth of our bed to go out into the world and live our lives. Often both what we leave and what we’re going to are good things, but we know what we’re going to is better. Sometimes we let go of really good things to step into even greater things.
