My nephew gave new meaning to the question, “what is the worst that could happen?” when he was a student at my alma mater, NC State University. You see, although he was a great student and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and even had a strong grade point average, he also excelled at the other parts of college life. Specifically, he excelled at seizing the moments, all of them, during his four years and he had a full college experience. This question “what is the worst that could happen?” became a sort of trademark Brian-ism. To this day, I can’t hear that question without thinking of him.
Whether that question was the “best” question to pose as he considered his college-day options is not entirely clear to me, but it worked for him at the time which is all that mattered. At least he was considering the fact that his decisions and actions had consequences and that was pretty impressive to me.
Just a few days ago I was having lunch with a friend, and while discussing a career change she is contemplating she asked me with a curious voice, “what is the worst that could happen?” I immediately smiled and thought of my nephew and realized that this is a BRILLIANT question to ask at specific pivotal moments in our lives. But, it’s also an equally illuminating question to ask in more general terms – so I let myself really think it. In my life, WHAT IS THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN?
In my opinion, the worst thing that could happen to you and me is that we never really know ourselves.
If we don’t know ourselves we cannot follow our own voices and become fully aware of all our God-given gifts and talents, and make our mark on this world in the ways that only we can. Instead, we will live our lives following the lead of people and things outside ourselves. And while we might have a pretty good life, it won’t be the magnificent, joy-filled, mind-blowing, ride we could have had! When we get in alignment with our own voices the joy we feel and the energy we have to live our lives is simply incredible.
Don’t let the worst thing happen to you…take the time to know yourself and tune in to what makes your heart sing, then hang on for the ride of your life! The world needs what you’ve got! Share it, please.
We are creating our lives…one decision at a time.
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