When’s the last time you took a risk?

When’s the last time you did something wildly outside your comfort zone?

When’s the last time you played “worst-case scenario“?

In 2015, I received an offer to move to Los Angeles to build the training organization for Quest Nutrition. If you don’t know my story, let me share a little context.

I grew up in a small farm town, I wasn’t even a fan of Seattle. By most standards, I was living the “dream”. I owned a home, my daughter was a Junior in High School, I had been with a company 11yrs and had great benefits and a 401K. I was living a small and comfortable life.

So let me tell you…my gut reaction was NO! There is NO WAY I could consider this opportunity!

And then I started thinking about it and asking the question…why not? I was 37yo, my daughter was 16.5yo. I started to think about what my life would look like when she left the nest. I started to question who I was and what I wanted MY life to look like. I also thought about what it would look like to show my daughter, who was soon to be a young adult on her own, something different than this small farm town life that was all she knew.

And then I asked myself what was the worst-case scenario and I realized it wasn’t as scary as I thought…If I hated L.A., I could always move back home to WA. That was it. Try it and come back if we don’t like it. All of a sudden it didn’t feel so big and scary.

Fast forward to today and I would tell you that decision was one of the best and most transformative decisions I’ve ever made. It changed the entire trajectory of my life and taught me to live courageously and take bold risks!

So, I challenge you this week to identify where you’re playing small and lean in to taking more risks. Stop telling yourself no and start asking yourself WHY NOT? We only have this one life…let’s start REALLY LIVING IT!

​Here’s to another week of living your life by design, not by default!