near-life experiences

and are you choosing to play it safe?

Recently, I read a fantastic book called Mind Shift by Erwin Raphael McManus. In the book he talks about 12 different ways to shift your thinking to help you live life not of regret but of intention. His goal is to basically shift how you think of yourself to help transform your life.

This book was chockful of so many interesting tidbits and just words that make you think but this one really offered food for thought and I wanted to expand on it a bit.

"However, I've learned that unfortunately, most of us not only avoid near-death experiences, we avoid near-life experiences as well. We almost risk for love. We almost pursue our dreams. We almost overcome our fears. We almost live the life we long for. We almost make the decision that would have changed everything. And then we get to the end of our lives and realize that we were so close. We were always just one choice away". -Erwin Raphael McManus

Let that sink in for a minute.

This is absolutely brilliant what McManus said because not only is it profound, but it is also true. We have all at one point or another almost made that choice that would have changed our lives. We approached that proverbial fork in the road and well... just turned around and went back from where we came. We took the familiar road, not the road less travelled.

We had a great opportunity to really experience something remarkable, but we shied away.

Now this isn't to say that every time an opportunity comes up, we should throw everything to the wayside every single time and consequences will have to fend for themselves. Sometimes playing it safe can be the better option.

But we all have those memories, locked inside the vault of our minds, that sometimes slip away from lock and key, and remind us of the times where we should have jumped. Those times where we think, "What would have happened if I had said yes?" or conversely, "What would have happened if I had said no?"

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"We don't need balance; we need intention and alignment. We need to spend the first part of our lives figuring out what we love to do, and then the next part of our lives figuring out how to do it". -Erwin Raphael McManus

For years, too many to count, I have always wanted to be a writer.

When I was a kid, I had notebooks full of my words, nouns and verbs scrawled across the paper. As I got older, I joined the school newspaper. When I was at university, even though English was not what I was getting my degree in, any elective classes I could spare went to those classes. I eventually worked a corporate job which didn't require a whole lot of writing skills but let me tell you, my when-requested long form emails were made of word magic.

Even as a stay-at-home mother and homemaker, I never lost my love of writing. I've had many blogs over the years and finally found my home here at Substack. When McManus said figure out what you love to do and then figure out how to do it, that just holds such affirmation for me. Writing words and sharing them with you all here in this little corner of the internet, is my thing. It lights me up. I am truly passionate about encouraging others with my words.

And that brings me back to the beginning of this post.

I don't want to "almost" anymore. I do not want to almost pursue my dreams; I want to actively pursue them. I don't want to almost overcome my fears, I want to knock them off the pedestal that I've put them on and stomp them beneath my feet. I don't want to almost live the life that I long for, I want to take the steps necessary to live that life. I don't want to almost make the decision that would have changed everything, I want to make the decisions that fundamentally align with this new life that I am building.

Life is already full of regrets, our rearview mirrors are murky, dirty with remnants of decisions made in past lives.

But this new life, well it starts today. Let us be courageous, friends. Let's not settle for almost. That energy you are feeling, that pull to step out of your comfort zone, those niggling whispers that come to you unbidden. Every fiber of your being is ready to wake up and not just exist, but to live. Let's say goodbye to near-life experiences and just live life to the fullest.

And let's send "almost" packing.