No great story started with "He stayed in the same job even though he hated it and knew that he wanted to quit but was scared to." Or with "And, she stayed with him, even though she found herself constantly questioning if this was right, and sometimes thinking it wasn't." Or "He decided to stay exactly where he was at. Even though he spent his time dreaming of exploring and finding where he felt he belonged." No great story has started with someone deciding to stay in their rut instead of trying something new. No great story has started with someone staying in a job, in a relationship, in a place that makes them up unhappy and leaves them unfulfilled. Great stories start when things stop going according to plan, and people start to make new plans. When someone decides to do something out of their comfort zone. When someone leaves something mediocre in hopes of finding something great. Great stories happen when change happens.
In my last HuffPost post, I wrote about how it can be difficult to get yourself out of a rut. It's never as simple and as easy as you'd think. But like I also stated in the previous post, it's worth it. And while you may want to wallow or try to think of ways that you could've tried harder to make it work, you could take a different approach. You could see this moment as when your great story starts. Because you did do something risky, something that wasn't easy, something different. You made a change, which is how all great stories start.
So, while making a big decision is undoubtedly stressful and while following through on that decision can be even tougher, just remember that no one tells stories about that time they went against their gut feeling and ended up exactly where they started. No movies or books are free of change and tough decisions, which then lead to adventure and newfound happiness. Great stories start when you do what you know is right for you, even if others don't think it'll work or you might even find yourself wondering what to do next. Say Anything, one of my favorite movies of all time, has a great ending line that perfectly sums up all these ideas on how great stories start. As the young couple flies off to England together, Diane asks Lloyd, "Nobody thinks it will work, do they?" and he then responds with the perfect answer that makes me want my own Lloyd Dobler: "No. You just described every great success story."