A Mason's Work

[00:00] there's a good chance, uh, that if you're like me or other people that are like me,
[00:06] I guess it's probably easy way to say, um, that you have a hard time starting new things.
[00:12] Um, starting new things is risky and challenging and new things could include like leaving the
[00:20] house or, uh, traveling or going to places. Um, you know, if you have these kinds of challenges
[00:27] in your everyday life, um, understand you're not alone. Uh, it's really easy. We build,
[00:33] we tend to build lives of comfort. Um, and then to consciously be uncomfortable is, uh,
[00:42] is a very difficult thing to pursue. What I will suggest to you is that, um, from a place of comfort,
[00:49] no one has ever really meaningfully grown. Uh, that doesn't mean that you have to, um, you know,
[00:57] go crazy and sell your stuff and go live in a yurt somewhere and be as uncomfortable as possible.
[01:03] That's not the plan. The plan is, um, to pursue these opportunities where you are uncomfortable
[01:10] and in pursuit of these, you know, these staged areas of discomfort, maybe it's go to a meeting,
[01:18] maybe it's go to a conference, maybe it's visit, uh, a loved one that lives far away,
[01:25] uh, that these inconveniences that you face between, um, you know, the destination and where you are now,
[01:33] those inconveniences, you will very easily be able to surmount and overcome. And the growth you're going
[01:40] to get both in overcoming those inconveniences and in the destination, that potential, uh, is immeasurable.
[01:49] Uh, this is the equivalent of, you know, the scratch off ticket kind of a lottery winning thing.
[01:58] You're going to take on a risk that is uncomfortable with an unknown payoff. Um, the quality of life
[02:07] payoff for leaving the house, uh, or going on adventures or, uh, getting out and trying new things.
[02:15] Um, even for the things that don't, that you don't love, let's say you're going to go and try a new cuisine
[02:21] for the first time that you've never tried before. Uh, and it turns out you hate it and that's a okay.
[02:29] Uh, the risk of hating it and the reality of hating it, um, does not diminish the value of trying something
[02:38] different and having something that is your new favorite thing, right? There will very likely be
[02:44] more things that you don't like, uh, than things that you like. But if you never explore the world,
[02:52] if you never take these risks, you will never find the thing you like. And you may never find the thing,
[02:57] uh, that really is your favorite thing or your mission or your way to be in the world.
[03:05] All of those things are on the other side of exploration. Uh, and a brief story I can,
[03:10] I can share with, um, when I was, uh, made a fellow craft, uh, they told me like, go learn
[03:19] math. And there was absolutely no way I was going to go learn math because I didn't really have a
[03:23] sense for how to explore it. So I said, well, I like technology. So I bought a 3d printer.
[03:28] Um, and I can tell you to this day, it's a peak experience of my life looking over the,
[03:32] you know, the edge of the print bed of the 3d printer and having an object that I designed
[03:38] materialize in front of my eyes was, uh, nothing less than life-changing.
[03:47] Uh, I didn't know how to do 3d printing. I didn't know how to build a piece of equipment like that.
[03:52] I had no idea how to do any of those things. And if I'd never taken on that risk of doing
[03:56] that kind of thing, I never would have found what is a, uh, a way that I can present my way of
[04:04] thinking in the world, uh, in the form of physical objects. So like it was, uh, it was sort of profound
[04:11] in the discovery. Um, the same thing's true on all voyages of all kinds. Uh, again, even if they are
[04:19] uncomfortable, even if they change you permanently for the worse, like now I've walked with a limp
[04:23] because I had this horrible experience. Um, you can't by virtue of those potentials eliminate
[04:32] the other side of the conversation, which is you could find the thing you could have the
[04:40] transcendent experience. You could have the develop the relationship by going to meet someone you've
[04:46] never met before that changes your life forever. Uh, we often look at these risks only in the context
[04:53] of the negative in the short term and the discomfort without recognizing the life changing potential
[04:58] that awaits. So I encourage you, uh, for as uncomfortable as it may be to schedule that next
[05:05] trip or to go on that next hike or to go do the thing that's really uncomfortable. Um, that on the
[05:12] other side of it is a better version of yourself that has to pass through that discomfort.
[05:17] Roux.