Zera: Seeds, Beginnings
The vastness of the ocean before Zera’s eyes was mesmerizing; to the left and right of her view, the ocean seemed to have no end. And before her, the waters seemed to proceed infinitely.
The sun shone brightly overhead, creating bright shimmering glass that was dancing across the water.
Enough looking around. It’s time to go. Zera thought to herself.
She looked down at her chosen vessel for the journey: A simple wooden boat. The boat, currently tied to a tree, was slowly rising and falling atop the gentle ocean waves.
Zera reeled in the rope to bring the boat close, untied the boat from the tree, and carefully entered the vessel. Making her way towards the center bench, she slowly sat down, pausing to take a deep breath.
Looking back at the shore one last time, Zera picked up the handle of the oar with both hands, and with a quick push, nudged the boat away from the shore.
The journey had begun.
Sometimes in life, the hardest thing to do is start. This happens at all scales- from deciding to start that assignment, to starting to think about where you want to go to college (or if you even want to go to college at all), to starting to think about what you want to study when you get to college; the list goes on.
The reality is, life is full of “starts”, and “stops” (and “continues”, I guess 🤷🏻♂️).
Many times, I find myself weighing all the options and choices, and wishing that someone would just tell me what to do with my life.
Not to toot my own horn, but I think I’m a great do-er. Just tell me what you want done (assuming you and I agree on the ethics of said decision), and more likely than not, I can probably go do that for you.
But when I’m the one tasked with making decisions, I realize that sometimes, I think too much and don’t take enough action. In fact, I’ll just keep thinking about what to do until I reach a point where I’m not taking any action at all.
Does that mean we should never weigh our decisions? No.
Does that mean that we should never take action? No.
But I think we need to recognize that we all come to a point where we can ask ourselves, “Would thinking about this more actually help me?”
And, be honest with me now, sometimes all we do is think, and don’t actually start taking action.
Instead, some examples of taking action and starting might be…
- Thinking about what assignment to do first? Make a prioritized list, then start with the top one.
- Interested in a college? Research about it.
- Looking at a certain major? Talk to some people who studied it.
- Curious about a job? Ask a couple people who have that job what they like/don’t like about it.
There’s a lot of value in taking action and starting. It eliminates a lot of the “what if” questions in our lives through empowering us to explore.
Instead of looking back and saying “what if…” we can say something like, “When I tried that out…” or “When I looked into that…” or “When I met with that person…”
Sure, weigh the decisions, see what’s out there.
But please, don’t just think about it. Take some action.
Start the journey.
Written with love, for the Youth of New Hope International Church
