Everything seems so familiar yet I have never been here before. I am a new person and this person hasn’t been anywhere. I am the best kind of explorer, dominating uncharted territory, and living the wildest of adventures.

The most intriguing thing about changing your life is the new person you become in the process. While there are familiar parts of who you are that remain, most improve so tremendously that you don’t even recognize yourself, and others are too new to even know where to begin. As a byproduct, every situation becomes uncharted territory, and you are the adventurous explorer discovering a new world.

I am still in the thick of my own adventure, and I honestly hope it never ends. Learning new things about myself- getting to know who I really am, how I tick- has been the most exciting ride I’ve ever been on. Every situation is a new one, but comes an odd familiarity. I constantly find myself thinking “I’ve been here before, I think. But last time I felt a lot different. So, maybe I haven’t been here yet.” It’s an opportunity to engage in the best of “do-overs.”

Here’s the tricky part: in order to enjoy the do-over and/or discover the new world, you have to actually let yourself enter the uncharted territory. What I sometimes struggle with is the need to cling to what’s familiar, and that often means clinging to an old feeling, thought, or way of handling a situation. The problem with this is obvious. If I’m only following the map I created last time, I’m not discovering anything new. I’m also hindering the new person I’ve become by only allowing her to follow in old me’s footsteps. Simply put, this isn’t fair to all the self-improvement work that’s been done. This is the equivalent of planning a trip, saving up the money, taking the time off of work, learning all the eccentricities of what you’re actually allowed to pack nowadays, fighting your way through security, getting to the gate, and then simply sitting down and watching the plane take off through the window. Hell no, people! We did the work, and now we get to fly!

If you’re like me, don’t be surprised if “old you” rears her head in the middle of your new adventure. I sometimes find myself beginning to react to old thoughts or insecurities before realizing that those insecurities don’t actually exist anymore. In these moments, I end up having to take a minute to flesh out how I, as the new me, actually feel. More often than not, new me just fine and embracing the opportunity to enjoy something new. So, don’t be deterred by the random thoughts of self-doubt, slight panic, or tempting calls from your comfort zone. Instead, silently thank the old you for her input and then tell her politely to shut up. Allow yourself to enter every situation as the new you and get to know how the new you handles it. I promise that most situations will be pleasantly surprising, if not overwhelmingly refreshing.

You deserve this adventure. You deserve to enter most situations with an unrelenting confidence. You deserve to know who you are, to be the best version of yourself, and to discover and create the life YOU want. You deserve to love yourself. You deserve to become the master explorer of your own life. Uncharted territory is waiting for you. All you have to do is drop the map, be brave, and embrace the wild adventure.