Last week, we talked about your dream as a seed and the healthy soil it needs to grow. But even healthy soil isn't enough.

A seed also needs light.

Belief is the light.

Because sometimes the thing standing between you and a different life isn't a lack of options.

It's what you've already decided is possible.

I know because I've lived this.

When I became a wife and mother, my professional life and my family life were competing for my time. Work was winning. I had added a husband and a child to my life, but my schedule was still that of a single Ob/Gyn.

I wanted more time with my family, but with our practice model, that felt impossible. Around the same time, administrative changes made it clear that I would need to make a change.

I felt lost.

Leaving wasn't part of the plan. I had never imagined a professional future that didn't include that practice.

So I did what many of us do when life stops fitting:I looked for a different version of the same thing.

I started searching for jobs in similar practices.

Why?

Because I believed anything different would mean earning less and I had student loans and a life to support.

But I wasn't treating that belief like a belief.

I was treating it like a fact.

When I finally challenged the assumption, an entirely different world opened up.

Office-only roles.

Part-time positions.

Shift-based work.

Options that offered something I hadn't believed was available to me: More time without sacrificing my financial stability.

I eventually made the pivot.

My work hours dropped by almost a third.

My pay barely changed.

My quality of life improved exponentially.

Here's the part I don't want you to miss:The options hadn't suddenly appeared.

They had been there the entire time.I just couldn't see them from inside the story I believed.

I wonder how often we do this in other areas of our lives.

I can't change careers at this age.

I can't make that kind of money doing something else.

I can't ask for that.

I can't start over.

I can't put myself first right now.

I can't possibly do that.

Sometimes those concerns are based on very real circumstances. But sometimes we've repeated a story for so long that we've stopped asking whether it's actually true.

Sometimes those concerns are based on very real circumstances. But sometimes we've repeated a story for so long that we've stopped asking whether it's actually true.

Scripture reminds us,“As a man thinks, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

What we believe shapes what we're willing to consider.

What we're willing to ask for.

What we're willing to attempt.

And ultimately, what we allow ourselves to imagine.

Belief isn't something you talk yourself into once and keep forever. It has to be practiced.

Tested.

Rebuilt.

And sometimes, borrowed.

Because there will be seasons when you need someone else to see possibility where you can only see limitations.

Someone to ask,“Who says?”

Someone to challenge the story you've been repeating.

Someone to remind you that just because you've always done something one way

doesn't mean you have to keep doing it that way.

Before you close this email, sit with these three questions:

Thinking:What would you need to believe about yourself before your actions could change?

Becoming:Who would you need to become to create the life you're imagining?

Support:Who—or what skill, resource, or community—could help you get there?

You don't need every answer today.

You just need to stop assuming the door is locked before you've tried the handle.