INITIATIVE

​"The key is taking responsibility and initiative, deciding what your life is about and prioritizing your life around the most important things." — Stephen Covey

In 2015 I tried two things for the first time:
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1. I jumped out of an airplane.
2. I tried my hand at gardening.  

Parachuting was a thrill unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was something that my friend Stephanie and I had wanted to do together years earlier but we never got the chance. To finally take the initiative and dive into the sky was a very special experience, beyond the inherent exhilaration of free-falling.

Gardening, though, was another kind of thrill that I hadn’t expected. I had never before been interested in gardening, but that year I was looking to try new things and decided to plant some pansies. When they sprouted and bloomed they looked beautiful, but the most amazing moment was the day I was admiring the flowers and saw a bumble bee fly up to one of the flowers. I suddenly felt like a part of something much bigger than myself! Truly an indescribable moment, and one that I would never had known if not for taking the initiative to try something new.

It’s said that if we want something we have never had then we must be willing to do something we have never done, and I believe that’s true, and the Magic Word Initiative reminds us to always be willing to take risks by trying new endeavors.
 
REFLECTION
When was the last time that you did something for the first time? What can you try today?