Climbing Above the Clip
It’s never easy to let yourself fall ten feet in the air. But I try to do it at least once a week. I sometimes feel like I bring rock climbing into too many aspects of my life, but sometimes everything is just involved in everything.
I was fresh-outta-college when I first started my career as a copywriter. I left my community and my mentors behind, and moved back into my childhood home. Though I left a lot behind, it was what was ahead of me that I feared the most—and what became more than I could have ever hoped for.
Though timid, my career started… Great. Some days it just felt like it kept getting better. I had a boss I liked, a new mentor, and all of a sudden a whole team around me. Though I wanted to be a copywriter for years, I’d never met one. Today, I call them friends.
Despite the comfort in these niceties, I was still scared. Like, all the time. Scared I wasn’t doing enough, wasn’t loud enough—or worse, was doing something wrong. I received positive affirmation throughout my career, yet this feeling was something I couldn’t shake—even leading up to my last days at Element Three.
So when I heard the words “This is going to be a hard conversation,” I was surprised by how I felt. It wasn’t fear. But in its place, stillness——peace. I envisioned a previous version of myself, climbing above the clip, entering the risk of falling. In that moment, I heard my own voice:
”It’s okay, you can do it. Just keep going.”
On the wall, these words bring me to the moment where the fear of falling is overwhelmed by confidence in my own strength. To fear, these are fighting words.
Change is never easy. The truth is, I don’t know that anyone would change if they didn’t need to. That in itself is terrifying. Change is something that is part of everything—just like learning to find peace.
As I leave this stage of my life, I walk with more courage than I had when I entered. With it, a new community, a new home, and a new confidence for what’s ahead. I am so thankful for my time at Element Three. It has literally helped me climb up in my career. Today, as I climb past the point of security, I continue to tell myself, “It’s ok. You’re alright. You can do it,” as I scale the undiscovered mountains ahead-—with a newfound gratefulness for the stories I can leave behind.
