The more I live, the more I realize that we need to be challenged to be able to thrive.

It’s easy to get comfortable with the status quo… get up, work, come home and eat dinner, sleep, do it again. Hobby A is done at this time, hobby B at that time. Family on Sundays. Check emails twice a day (or if you’re me, seventy billion times).

We need to find the challenge in this routine and tackle it. Barney Stinson, love him or hate him, has a fantastic catchphrase (well, he has a few, but there’s one that applies here):

Challenge accepted.

“You can’t bungee jump, you’re afraid of heights!” Challenge accepted.

“Baking a souffle is frelling impossible.” Challenge accepted.

“There’s no way I could get a new job with my qualifications, even though the one I have is killing me.” Challenge accepted.

What have you been telling yourself is impossible or impractical or just not realistic because it doesn’t fit into the “status quo” of your life? And if those things would make you a happier, healthier, more whole person… why not just accept the challenge and go for it?

At the end of your life, do you want to say “man, I’m really glad I stuck with my easy, boring 9-5 at the paper factory even though it felt like it sucked the life out of me some days” or do you want to say “I’m so glad I took a chance on my dream job as a widget entrepreneur, even though it didn’t pay as well… but I sure had fun doing it despite the hard times.”

We only get one shot at this thing called life. Why not accept more challenges and make the most of it?