Level Up! With Shay

I’ve always taken pride in turning almost any moment in my life into a bigger lesson.

Birds in the sky? Yeah, I’ve got a metaphor for that.

A crack in the sidewalk with a flower growing out of it? That’s a sign, right?!

Right now, though, I have something going on that’s breaking my heart.

I Feel It Deeply

After multiple attempts to keep it in place, I felt myself getting more and more frustrated. Not at Lulu (the puppy—who, by the way, is incredibly brave and hasn’t cried once), but at my own inability to protect her. No matter how hard I tried, the safety measures I put in place just kept falling away.

And then it hit me—how many times have my parents felt this way about me? How many times have they thrown their emotions into the air, desperate to keep me safe, only to watch me walk my own path anyway?

Where It Matters

What is something you’ve been trying to keep safe recently?

Maybe it’s someone you love. Or maybe it’s a piece of art, a project, or even yourself. You want to put something vulnerable out into the world, but the thought of negative feedback makes you hesitate. Because once you release something, you no longer have control over it. You can try to manage it with your actions, your words, your emotions—but the universe has a way of pushing things further, reminding you that control is never really in your hands.

And that is terrifying.

So why do we do it? Why do we keep putting ourselves in these uncomfortable, nerve-wracking, heart-pounding situations?

Because that’s what makes us human.

I don’t know of any polar bears who decide to vacation in the Sahara just to see if they can handle the heat. Or geese who suddenly change their migration patterns because they want to experience winter up north.

But humans? We do things like that all the time. We push ourselves to new limits. We test our endurance, our creativity, our emotions. Maybe it’s an innate drive to evolve, or maybe it’s something bigger—a divine push from God, the Universe, or Spirit, urging us to expand beyond our perceived limitations.

The Reality of Letting Go

It is human nature to want to protect the things we love—our people, our pets, our work, our art. But at the end of the day, the world moves on its own terms. Our grip is not as strong as we think it is.

That’s not living. That’s fear in disguise.

We are meant to take chances. To experience the impossible. To wear our hearts on our sleeves, even when it means they might get bruised.

Because at the end of the day, control is an illusion—but courage? That’s real.

So, what is one thing you need to release control over today?

Put it in the comments – I read every one!

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The Untethered Soul is a fantastic book about this topic of safety, control, and illusion.

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