From Safety to Growth {Episode 24}

We live in a world where safety (from disagreement, criticism, attack or disease) is considered paramount. But at what cost? I firmly believe that God values growth more than safety. How do I know? Because He lets bad things happen to us and He allows us to have hard experiences that help us expand and become our best selves.

Let's discover how leaning into feeling unsafe can be the best thing for this new phase of life as a business owner.

I want to share a fun quote with you guys that I've heard all my life: "A ship in the harbor is safe but that's not what ships are built for."

I talk about being safe a lot on this podcast and you know I do NOT think it's a good thing.

We live in a world where everyone is afraid of confrontation and being disagreed with. We're even told that a place where people don't agree with and affirm us is potentially unsafe.

What that does, is creates a world where everyone just sits around in echo chambers surrounded by those who agree with them. We never learn how to disagree civilly or have healthy debate.

Instead we see hate and vitriol spewed everywhere because it's just one camp of people fighting another camp.

Not only do we need to get out and around those who disagree with us to learn how to get comfortable with discomfort, but we have to do things that scare us.

A few things I've had to do as a business owner that makes me feel unsafe: Speak in front of audiences, act like an expert on something, teach what I know, learn things I don't understand, invest lots of money I may or may not get back, create offers that people might hate, take care of customers or clients who are unhappy and so much more!

When I think of what I'd rather be doing, it usually involves a cup of hot cocoa, a blanket and a book. None of those things that I listed above are comfortable for me!

Let's compare our business growth with our phsyical health. When we want to "get in shape" one of the first things we do is strengthen muscles.

DId you know that muscles have to be torn apart to get stronger? Lifting weights literally creates micro tears in the muscle fibers so that they can knit themselves together stronger.

It's no wonder that I'm so sore after a good workout. Are you allowing your attempts at building your business to tear you up a little bit? To skin your knees or bruise your ego? If not, what are you scared of?

Last week I mentioned that God doesn't want us to be safe. It's not because He doesn't care, in fact it's the opposite. He cares so much, he wants us to go through the discomfort in order to grow.

Think about watching your young babies learn to walk and run. It's hard to watch! They fall and hurt themselves and get discouraged. But even though they get hurt, you'd never prevent them from walking to save that pain.

That would be even crueler. You allow them the bruises and scrapes in order to learn to walk - something that will bless them every single day of their entire lives.

That's what God is going for us: allowing us to get bruised and a little banged up in order to help more people around us.

I also think that's why we have to be at least a couple decades old before having kids of our own. The discomfort of living life has taught us lessons that we can then pass on to our kids

My parents were a great example of leaning into discomfort to find growth. When I was young, living at home, we moved to the coutnry of Mexico two differnt times.

My dad was offered a job to work there and they chose to move their entire family to a new and unfamiliar country.

Why? Well yes, the pay was good but also they loved adventure and knew it would bless their family.

What did the kids think about it? 98% of the time, we hated the idea. We had to leave friends. schools, food and other things we knew and loved. We left behind almost everything that was comfortable.

But once we were there and settling into the discomfort, what happened? We made new friends, all of us kids learned Spanish (which blessed me my whole life) and it gave us skills that improved us in so many ways.

It was one reason I got into the first college of my choice, it taught me how to appreciate hardhips and how to lean on God when I was lonely and feeling misunderstood.

Our family was also able to help grow our church there. The membership was small and so we were able to serve in many ways including leadership positions and I got to play piano for the enture congregation.

Ask yourdself this: are you willing to be uncomfortable for God's work and His glory? Because if so, He's ready to use you. But you don't have to run before you can walk.

Start small, ask Him what he has in store for you right now. What one small, uncomfortable thing can you do today to help you grow?

How does he want you to shine your light so that others can gain enough courage to follow? Ask, and then boldly step into the discomfort.