When you look up and pay attention to your environment you can fully experience your life, which includes wonder, awe, and a curious disposition each day. I was traveling for most of the month of April, from Florida to Oregon, and something I saw really stood out to me…
A sign at a storage unit business read: “Don’t throw it away. Store it instead. 50% off today!”
This was interesting as it made me think of a conversation earlier in the day with a heart-centered man that I went to high school with in my hometown. Joal and I were talking to him as we watched the Miami Heat game and he said, “I’d love to do what you guys have done, just pick up and go. I have a place that I’d love to go to in Idaho and I could make double the money I make now- my wife wouldn’t even have to work. She’s more fearful though and doesn’t like change. She’s an amazing massage therapist, but she makes so much at her current position that she doesn’t want to leave. Plus, my job is nice, pretty chill, and low stress.”
When he referenced, “what you guys have done,” he was referring to the fact that back in 2018 Joal and I sold our home and most of our belongings and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. We said we were in search of more sunshine, which If you don’t know, that area of Colorado has over 300 days of sunshine per year. In the end, however, what we’ve discovered is that we were in search of expansion. Expansion spirituality, personally, with our businesses, and within our relationships as well. This expansion has brought so much freedom, joy, and a deep-rooted sense of appreciation and faith in our lives. And it all began with one thing… addressing and releasing our attachments.
Attachments in life give us a feeling of safety and comfort. Comfort keeps us from taking the next step, making the phone call, writing the book, starting that business, or whatever is on your heart that you keep pushing down because of your attachments. Ultimately, the attachments that are keeping you comfortable are also keeping you from your true calling.
I am reminded of a quote that I love as I write this and that is this: “Everything is permissible, but not beneficial.”
So I encourage you to ask yourself today: How long have I been nurturing an emotional, physical, habitual, or relational attachment to a season that is no longer fruitful for me?
It’s easy to stay the same. It’s also unfulfilling and not what we were born to do in this one precious life we have all been given. Yet on the other hand more than we could ever ask or imagine is waiting for us on the other side of change and growth.
One more question for you to sit with this week: What am I missing out on because I am so committed to staying attached to my comforts?
We all have options and choices in life. We can choose to stand up in our calling or we can choose to sit in our comfort. Isn’t it time that we confront our comfort vs catering to it? Honestly, it doesn’t matter what you’re attached to and be comforted by, it’s killing your calling. It could be a physical environment, a friend group, a type of work, alcohol, food, shopping, or a relationship that is dysfunctional but familiar so you stay…
Walking in your discomfort, your growth, in your uncertainty will always be fruitful, and it will cost you something. But do you know how worth it that is?
Walking in your calling will cost you your attachment and your comfort, and it’s worth every sacrifice!
My life is a living, breathing testament of releasing attachments and comfort, many of which I just listed. And, I would not change a minute of it- even the times that felt like the biggest challenges of my life because the lessons, growth, beauty, opportunities, and faith-building on the other side have been priceless!
After reading this, what’s your next step? Email me and let me know, or if you’re at a crossroads and need a little guidance, email me that too. I can be reached at carmen@carmenohling.com
