Finding Peace in the Unfamiliar

In case you hadn’t heard, my gratitude journals went live this week. Besides bringing up emotions like excitement and pride, it also brought with it a wash of other emotions. Mainly fear, uncertainty, anxiety.

You might be asking yourself why on earth would I have anxiety over publishing my creations? Wasn’t that the point? Reasonable questions, and ones I asked myself, actually. The short answer is you’re right, but this is new territory for me, and the unfamiliar can be scary.

In addition to writing in a gratitude journal, I practice semi-regularly free journaling. Mostly I do it when there are emotions or thoughts that loop in my head and won’t go away. I’ve learned over the years that’s my brain’s way of signaling I have something going on and I need to work it out. Journaling lets me do that. It’s a way of dumping the thoughts from my brain on to paper so they don’t stay in my head.

A few days ago, I wrote this: “Instead of worrying that all this new scenery around me means I’m lost, maybe I can instead enjoy the beauty and newness of it.”

I love what this says. Some days I am so afraid of not knowing where this new journey is headed I become paralyzed with fear. I don’t recognize the life around me and feel lost. By flipping the script and focusing on the beauty in all that’s unfamiliar to me, the fear and anxiety can become wonder and awe.

I think a lot of us are facing this recently. The world is a different place than it was a month ago, 6 months ago, 6 years ago. And we have to find our way through a world that no longer looks familiar to us. But if we look at it a different way, perhaps we can find a small spark of joy in an otherwise scary world.

So today, I focus my gratitude on the unfamiliar. The excitement of seeing where this new journey takes me. Of learning new skills, meeting new people. Living a life of purpose and balance.

I hope you join me.

Drop me a comment and let me know how you’re dealing with so many changes in such a short time. What you’re grateful for today. How you’re coping. Or just say hi!

Until next time, I wish you all peace, love and gratitude.