Why be Safe?

Safe is a tricky word. You want to be safe, but you don’t want to be so safe that you never try anything different. When I live the dictionary definition of safe, I feel happy, carefree, and not afraid to be me. I go through life, never taking risks, and not experiencing anything new. These feelings lure me into safety, and persuade me to never leave. And why would I want to leave? In reality, life isn’t safe. 

Let me use an analogy my theatre instructor shared with our class. After drawing one large circle and a smaller circle adjacent to it, she labelled the larger one ‘magic’, and the smaller one “comfort zones.” She said “If we want to experience real ‘magic’ in our lives, we have to step out of our comfort zone and find the ‘magical’ life for ourselves.” I decided to find out if she was right.

I have always been one to seek out life. My family jokingly refers to me as the rebel child. Not in a nose-ring tattooed-bicep sort of way, but because I was the girl who didn’t do exactly what the sibling before her did.  My older siblings have all experienced and done amazing, worthwhile things in their lives. At the same high school, they ran cross-country, played the piano, and earned their associate’s degree before graduating high school. They didn’t really branch out from those things. When it came time for me to decide which high school I’d attend, I took a risk and attended a different school than my older siblings. I did track, like the others, but with a different approach.  Instead of long distance, I attempted to sprint. I even tried pole vaulting. On my first (and only) jump, I was two feet underneath the standard bar, but four feet above everyone else in my family. And while I didn’t succeed in all of these expeditions, at least I tried. Since sprinting and pole vaulting weren’t the magic I needed in my life, I found it later in theatre.  This was an extremely big step because in my family, nobody does theatre. And not only did I go against “social norms” in my family, but I had to sing and dance in front of people I didn’t know. It was terrifying for me, but exhilarating at the same time. As scary as it was to step out of my “comfort” circle, I found something I enjoyed.

Vincent Van Gogh once said, “There is safety in the midst of danger. What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? It will be a hard pull for me; the tide rises high, almost to the lips and perhaps higher still, how can I know! But I shall fight my battle, and sell my life dearly, and try to win and get the best of it.”

I don’t want to live a “safe” life, as a stagnant person, feeling the same emotions and doing the same things day to day. I am open to the difficult changes that reshape and transform who I am as I experience everything I can. 

My theatre teacher was right; magic does exist. It is there for the taking whenever I am ready.