The White Carpet

[Supa]

Did you ever get cold feet?

Oh boy, do I feel that cursor hovering above the <- on the top-left of your browser tab, waiting impatiently for that moment that you just click on that.

But wait.

I'm not going to sell you some warm fleecy socks now to get rid of your cold feet during that winter - even though, ah.. let's just admit it: they are awesome. Like, really awesome. I recently found some grea...

NO! WAIT, WAIT, WAIT!
Get that cursor back down here, will you? ... Please?

Thanks.

Well, that was close...
Here.
A picture for you before we start this thing, just to ... you know ... calm you and that shaky cursor thing up there down a bit ... and myself, too.

Ohh, that was nice, wasn't it?

Good. Now let's use that space, where the right foot step should be, for something useful.

Did I just put that picture in there for no other reason than to calm you and your nervous cursor down? No.

But that's the important word here.
Cursor? No. Picture? No. No? No!

Ok, ok. This may have been a bit unclear...

Let's try again:
Did I just put that picture in there for no other reason than to calm you and your nervous cursor down? No.

Now we are getting to the point.

I think everyone is familiar with the phrase: "oh holy F*ckity F*ck, now he's getting cold feet!" (ok.. maybe just the last half of it...)

But what does it actually mean to get cold feet?

Wiktionary says it means:
to become nervous or anxious and reconsider a decision about an upcoming event.

It's something that I experience sometimes, and that always got me wondering. Wondering why you start to doubt a decision you made with such a pleasant anticipation, and you were looking forward to it so long - until the moment or the decision is finally in sight.

And then you're hit with doubt. With anxiety. With what if questions running through your mind like they are on the run from a maniac with a chainsaw.

Deep inside you remember how good you felt about that decision. How much you looked forward to exactly this moment, when you couldn't wait to be so near to it, like you are now.

But anxiety and doubt has a tendency to overshadow a lot of your joy, of your certainty.

Those are the moments in which you get cold feet.

But why is that?

Now, bare in mind, this is just my take on it.
Getting cold feet is just another wording for getting nervous before an important decision or moment, but I thought it can help to put a picture in your mind, that may help you, whenever such a moment of nervousness and anxiety arises the next time.

Now, if you may please scroll to the top ... stop, stop, stop, that was too far! Scroll down a bit ... yeeees ... a bit more. Stop! Awesome.

Now you should see that nice image of that foot print on the beach.

Now imagine yourself standing on such a beach, while the sun is burning down on you, like you're standing beneath a magnifiying glass that someone is holding between you and that yellow ball above you.

It's warm right? And - with a bit of shadow or sunscreen - really cozy.

That's your comfort zone.

An awesome place, right? Everything's so familiar and feels warm and cozy. It's (if we drop that beach scene for a while) like sitting at home, with a cozy warmth and dimmed light in your favorite chair, a good book in one hand and a hot coffee or chocolate in the other and look outside the window, where the snow is falling from the sky, turning the green grass in front of the house into a white carpet.

You know that, no matter how awesome this white carpet may look, it's freaking cold out there, so you change position in your chair to stay comfortable and continue reading, while slurping on that hot beverage, that first warms your fingers that are clammed around it, and then starts to fill your stomach with a warmth, that you know you won't found out there on the carpet.

Or at least that's what you think.

That comfty chair is your comfort zone. It's the safe place of yours.

But, most intestesting things out of reach of someone sitting in that chair. Most of them are even outside of this house you're in.

But I want to do interesting things! you may scream from your chair now, hammering against the armrests and smashing the cup at the walls.

The wall, that's standing between your comfort zone and the interesting things out there.

So you stomp your feet to the ground and push yourself out of that chair.

You go to the window. Your feet get closer and closer to that wall between the inside and outside.

And as you get closer and closer, that cold breeze from outside creeps into the room. Your too far away from the heater to feel its warmth. And the breeze gets colder and colder the closer you come to that window.

Then you stop. You look down on your feet, your cold feet.

You look back to the chair, the heater besides it, the broken cup next to you.

Will you just go back to that comfortable place? Looking out the window from time to time, wondering what's out there. What would've happened if you just went out there?

Or will you just put warm shoes on and go out there?

Facing the risk of being cold for a while, of not knowing where actually to put your feet first.

But it feels good out there, doesn't it?

You made a decision, you looked forward to it for a long time. You had your moments of getting cold feet in front of that window.

But now you're actually out there. You did what you deep down knew was the right thing to do. You knew it before and now, afterwards, too. While making the decision and now, while standing here, breathing in the clear air.

You take a look back.

The house is still there. You see the chair, can almost feel the heaters warmth. You know the broken mug is laying there on the floor. And you know you have to clean that mess up later. And you also know that you can do that, because the house, your comfort zone, is still there.

It‘s okay to be in there. To have a nice layed back evening in that chair.

As long as you won‘t let the coldness around your feet, while standing in front of the window, hold you back from just going outside.

Whatever it is you want to do, know that doing it doesn‘t mean to throw away what‘s important to you.

It means to step outside and onto that white carpet, and when you‘re done for the day, and overcame your nervousness and anxiety and just did what made you feel those emotions, it‘s time to go back inside and enjoy your evening.

It‘s awesome in the warmth of your home. Just don‘t forget how great the sunrays dancing over your skin feels, standing there outside in front of your house, about to take a step onto the white carpet.

 

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