Faith

In the spirit of the holiday season, I thought I'd take a break from the career talk to mention a little something about faith.

I have never been what one would call "religious."  I have always felt, however, a pull toward the spiritual.  I tend to believe in miracles, serendipity, things happening for a reason, and knowing when you've found "your calling."  I also believe that it takes a certain amount of faith to make changes in your life. 

I don't know how else to explain why someone would take a chance on following a dream, make a long term commitment with a significant other, have children, try out a new path, or invest in themselves or their prospective business.  These acts require a person to have faith in themselves, their relationship, their talent, their abilities to cope with whatever problems arise.   Believing without seeing is what faith is all about, which is not an easy task, as many people will admit.

I remember a time when I had a really tough, life-changing decision to make, one that I'd been putting off making for way too long.  I'd procrastinated because I knew the repercussions would be personally devastating no matter the decision.  There was definitely a responsible, ethical choice , but I couldn't bring myself to make it because I knew it would be emotionally painful.  Finally, in a moment of desperation, I tearfully explained my turmoil to a friend who wisely told me, "Katie, sometimes you just have to make the adult, mature decision you know is right and live with that decision." 

"Live with that decision."

Those words magically resonated with me and I felt a huge sense of relief.  The fact was, I did have substantial evidence as to the right decision, but the fear of not being able to emotionally deal with the consequences of that decision had crippled me.  But for some reason, those words triggered an ounce of faith that I could live with that decision, no matter what happened.  This faith in my coping abilities enabled me go with the right choice.

Now, admittedly, it was extremely hard, but I had mustered up the faith in myself to live with my decision.  I braved through the after-math with a newly acquired confidence and strength. Making life decisions and commitments require nothing less than blind faith, knowing that even if the change involves a certain degree of failure, you can live with those failures, knowing that the decision is the right one.

So here's my holiday wish for you:  believe in your abilities, your ideas, your passions, your inclinations.  Have faith that you can make changes in your life that benefit you and those you care about.  Allow your faith to grow each day of the upcoming year and see what happens.  While you don't know for sure what the future will bring, you can at least know that you are choosing your actions based on self-confidence and faith, as opposed to choosing inaction based solely on fear.