Comfort, we all love it.

We are creatures of habit that love to wake up the same way, go to the same job, same gym, hang out with the same friends, eat the same food and go to bed at the same time. It makes us feel content to know what is coming. But sometimes comfort can cause stagnation; we turn on autopilot and pretty soon not only has the day passed, but months or years have passed. With a blink of an eye we’ve been lost in routine and found ourselves stuck. Stuck in the same place, with the same job, with the same people. Stuck because we forgot what made us passionate.

Stuck because we forgot to dream.

I am just as guilty, I love feeling comfortable and secure. And there is truly nothing wrong with have a routine life. The problem lies in being stuck in a routine that doesn’t excite you or make you truly happy. If you are head over heals for your job, for your home, for your friends, for your life, and you have no more dreams to fulfill, then keep doing what you’re doing. But if there is something you have always wanted to do, a person you have always wanted to talk to, or someplace in the world you have always wanted to see, I challenge you to unroot yourself. Get uncomfortable. Fly.

This past week I spent driving from Calgary to Halifax to start a new chapter in my life. I sat there staring out a car window as the beautiful country of Canada whizzed by thinking about the amazing life I had in Calgary the last 4 years. I loved my apartment (which we sold 2 weeks ago), I loved my regular yoga classes I taught and the amazing students I got to know. I loved the local restaurants I could walk to, I loved all my friends, I loved it all! But a in July I was accepted into Nova Scotia’s School of Art and Design and that acceptance made my mind up for me that I would move to Halifax with my fiance in September. Since I was 12 I have had a dream to pursue a life immersed in art. I am a self taught painter and have always wanted to go to art school so I took a deep breath, unrooted myself from my comforts, and went after that dream.

It is slightly terrifying to unroot yourself,  but it is necessary. The friends and places you leave behind will be there for you if they are meant to be there in your future. Trust the process, trust the journey. Change stimulates your mind, your character, your nerve, your attitude and your passion.

When you stop resisting change and start enjoying the process, your true fervor for life ignites.

xox Nicole