Today’s Navigate the Chaos question is “How often do you intentionally move from the known to the mystery in order to grow?”
American singer and songwriter Rachel Platten is someone very familiar with the mystery.
As an international relations major at Trinity College, Platten did an internship in Trinidad at a diplomat's office and at a record label. While she was there, she sang backup for a friend's band in front of over 80,000 people at the International Soca Monarch finals in 2002.
According to Platten, from that moment on she knew she had to pursue music full-time. Upon graduating college she moved to New York City's Greenwich Village where she played in the local music scene.
She performed her solo music around the Village and eventually began touring the country.
After 12 years of grinding it out and living in the mystery or not knowing if she was ever going to make it, Platten released “Fight Song” on June 27, 2014 which would be her first hit song.
As Platten said “This has felt like a complete fairy tale. But a fairy tale that is 12 years in the making. I grinded and worked so hard for so long and got to the point of… I didn’t think it was going to happen. I thought I might need to figure something else out. That moment bred “Fight Song.” So that song came because I had to make a decision, “Am I going to keep going or am I going to give up on myself?”
American theoretical physicist Fred Alan Wolf observed “Asking yourself deeper questions opens up new ways of being in the world. It brings in a breath of fresh air. It makes life more joyful. The real trick to life is not to be in the know, but to be in the mystery.” How often do you engage in self-reflection?
Are you satisfied in the know or are you actively seeking to be in the mystery of life in order to discover something new?