If you never leave home, never let go, you'll never make it to the great unknown

If you never leave home, never let go, you’ll never make it to the great unknown till you keep your eyes open.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, it’s a quote from one of my favorite songs by Needtobreathe. Being in DC has made me so grateful that I’ve had so many experiences where I have had to or chosen to step out of my comfort zone. College has been a rough road to say the least but there are so many lessons I have learned. The main one being the importance of branching out.  It’s scary if you think about it too much, but if you just go do something instead of thinking about it can be so rewarding.

Sometimes taking the greatest risks lead to the greatest rewards.

Do one thing every day that scares you. Alright, so I’ve been thinking about this one, and I definitely don’t do something every day, but this is definitely something I believe everyone should live out at least sometimes.

  

Too often, we wait thinking there will be a better time to live out our dreams without actively pursuing them. But why wait, life is short.

I basically made my best friend in DC by saying hey, I don’t really know you but you’re from Texas, I live there sometimes, and lets get lunch. Or telling my fellow theta Bonich that I was obsessed with Cambodia and that we should be friends because she is from there. Or my friend Shelby likes to tell the fact  about when she beat me in a race and  I said let’s go running together and she thought I was a little crazy but then we became great friends.

When I think of the people that inspire me, most of them have branched out of their comfort zone to the point that some would definitely question their sanity, but have benefitted others. Yesterday I had the privilege of hearing a woman named Baroness Cox speak about her organization called HART, Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust. She basically started in during a crisis in Armenia and goes to closed states (meaning their government won’t allow aid workers), sneaks by borders, missiles, and armies to get aid to people that need it most. Her stories were incredible. Oh and just a small detail, she’s 75. (!) And still spends about half of her time traveling to Burma, Uganda, Nigeria, Armenia, among others. Here’s a link to her Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Cox,_Baroness_Cox

 Definitely a woman who knows that when she ventures out to forbidden places, there are armies and warrants out for her arrest but she says “ I cannot do everything, but I must not do nothing.” The love she has for oppressed people is truly worth emulating.

Well, this blog post was a little all over the place, but just reflects some of my thoughts right now. Update on the rest of my week coming soon!