There Is More Than Survival (And it starts with asking a different question)
Note: This reflection sits alongside the YAIT story (podcast episode) called the World We Practice Here. If you haven’t listened yet, I recommend beginning with the story then returning here. Click here to listen.
Have you ever noticed how often your thoughts sound like this?
Is this safe?
Will this work?
What will people think?
⸻
I have always wanted to be a storyteller.
Not quietly. Not as a hobby.
But as something real.
And still… I didn’t choose it.
I chose law.
Something more practical.
More stable.
More acceptable.
At least, that’s what I told myself.
But the desire to tell stories never went away.
It stayed with me—quiet, steady, waiting.
Every now and then, it would rise up again.
And each time, I would ask myself the same questions:
Is this safe?
Will this work?
What will people think?
And every time I answered those questions…
I stepped back.
Until recently.
I did my first Storytime Circle.
It was small. Simple.
And I showed up… as a storyteller.
Those same questions came up again.
Is this safe?
Will this work?
What will people think?
But this time, I made a different choice.
I decided to ask myself three different questions—
questions you’ll see below if you keep reading.
And I got a different answer.
So I began.
Not perfectly.
Not with certainty.
But honestly.
And now…
I am storytelling.
Those questions don’t come from nowhere.
They come from experience.
From living in a world where being careful has often been necessary.
Where thinking two steps ahead can feel like protection.
And for many of us… it has been.
But over time, something else can happen.
That way of moving through the world—measuring, calculating, anticipating—can quietly become the only way we know how to live.
And when that happens, life can start to feel smaller.
More contained.
More predictable.
More about managing risk… than experiencing possibility.
So I want to offer you something gentle.
Not a complete shift.
Not a dramatic change.
Just… a different set of questions:
What am I curious about?
What would feel like an adventure?
What do I actually want?
Not what makes sense.
Not what’s expected.
Not what feels safest.
Just… what really feels like living.
Curiosity opens something.
It allows you to wonder without immediately shutting yourself down.
It creates space for possibility—without requiring certainty.
Adventure doesn’t have to mean something big or risky.
Sometimes it’s as simple as trying something new.
Taking a small step outside of what you already know.
Letting yourself explore—without needing a guaranteed outcome.
And desire…
Desire is often the quietest voice.
It’s the thing you want but don’t always say out loud.
The idea you dismiss before you give it a chance.
The pull you feel… and then quickly explain away.
But desire is not random.
It tells you something about what matters to you.
About what feels meaningful.
About what might bring you joy.
And here’s something worth remembering:
You don’t need permission
to follow your curiosity.
You don’t need approval
to try something new.
And you don’t need to justify
what you want.
No, this isn’t about abandoning caution.
It’s about making room for something more alongside it.
Because there is more available to you than survival.
So I’ll leave you with one question.
Just one.
What is something you’ve been curious about…but haven’t let yourself try?
You don’t have to figure everything out.
You don’t have to explain it to anyone.
Just start there.
Gently.
Honestly.
In your own way.
And if you’re wondering where to begin—you don’t have to look far.
Sometimes it starts the same way it did for me: Taking one small step…
and the courage to answer a different question.
And you ain’t imagining this!
