In kindergarten, I went to Stewart Elementary in my hometown of Washington, Iowa. At the end of that school year, the school called my dad with an unusual request. They needed to even out class sizes and asked if I would be willing to switch to Lincoln Elementary for first grade.
I didn't hesitate. Yes. New teacher, new friends, a whole new group of classmates to meet.
I already had good friends at Stewart, some I'm still friends with today. I wasn't trying to leave anything behind. Something in me just wanted more. More people. More stories. More connection.
That same girl still shows up in me today.
When I packed up my life and drove an old RV down to Panama City Beach, not knowing a single soul, I didn't dread the unknown. I became immensely curious about it.
I said yes to shrimp and grits the first time I saw it on a brunch menu. I said yes to kayaking to watch manatees glide beneath me in the clear water. I said yes to peanuts poured straight into a glass Coke bottle, something I had never seen a soul do back in Iowa.
You do not need a grand leap of faith to expand your world. Sometimes it begins with one small, ordinary yes.
Notice the Ordinary Moments Where a Yes Is Hiding in Plain Sight
Most of us think our biggest yeses are the ones that show up looking important. The job offer. The move. The proposal. The moment everyone can see coming from a mile away.
But I've noticed how often the moments that expanded my life did not look all that dramatic at first. They look like saying yes to coffee when it would be easier to stay home. Walking into a room full of people you do not know. Trying the class. Joining the group. Starting the conversation. Taking the different route. Letting life surprise you a little.
Yesterday, I sat on that same stretch of sugary white sand where I once knew not a single soul, relaxing with a book. I was reading Jess Ekstrom's Chasing the Bright Side, and one line hit me a little more.
She wrote that we cannot let the fear of the unknown become bigger than the excitement of possibility.
I laid the book in my lap and just sat there for a minute as a memory came back to me. Kindergarten.
I am not sure why that was the memory that surfaced, except the realization I have been like this practically my whole life. I said yes to a school switch when I was six, and I could not have told you why. I just knew how fun it was meeting teachers and making friends, so I wanted to do it again. That instinct never really left me. It only got softer as I got older, tucked in between responsibilities, routines, and the very real need for stability.
I would guess the same is true for you.
Somewhere inside your normal routine, there is a small yes waiting. A lunch with someone you just met. A conversation you have been meaning to have. A place you keep saying you'll visit "someday." It is probably not dressed up as anything important. That is exactly why it is so easy to walk past.
Expand Your Definition of a Bigger Life
When people hear about my move to Florida, they picture the impressive parts. Selling almost everything I owned. Driving an old RV a thousand miles. Landing in a place I had never visited before.
And yes, that happened.
Hello, RV era.
But what really expanded my world was everything that came after. Learning to eat black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day for good luck and prosperity. Seeing a giant sea turtle swimming by me in the gulf. Making a sand angel instead of snow in December.
None of those moments changed my life on their own. Together, they changed the way I experienced it.
That's what growth and expansion looks like. It isn't always one big moment. More often, it's a collection of small ones. A willingness to try something different. To be curious instead of certain. To let today bring something yesterday didn't.
Build Your Yes Muscle Through Small Reps, Not One Dramatic Leap
Nobody becomes strong by attempting their heaviest lift on day one. You build strength through small, consistent reps that add up over time.
Saying yes works the same way.
That young girl who said yes to switching schools was already in me. But that does not mean every yes came easily after that. There were plenty of times when I hesitated, overthought, or wanted the familiar because it felt safer.
So, I practiced in ordinary moments where the stakes felt low. A new food. A new hobby. A conversation with someone I might not have approached before.
Each easier yes showed me something I needed to know. New does not always mean risky. Unfamiliar does not have to mean unsafe. Sometimes unfamiliar can become interesting, beautiful, funny, or even life-giving if we allow ourselves to stay with it long enough.
That kind of openness is not something you either have or do not have. It is something you can return to. Something you can strengthen.
And like any muscle, it responds to use.
In The Driver's Seat Podcast
Every week I show up on my podcast the same way I show up here, with real stories, honest conversation, and the kind of talk that makes you think about your life differently. Come find me wherever you get your podcasts.
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Begin Wherever You Are, With the Yes in Front of You Today
You do not have to plan a move across the country to practice this. You do not need a five-year plan, a vision board, or one grand gesture that proves you are finally living intentionally.
You just need today's possibility.
Whatever invitation is already sitting in front of you right now. The one you might normally scroll past, brush off, or talk yourself out of.
Say yes to it.
If openness has shaped more of your life than you gave it credit for, imagine what becomes possible when you start saying yes on purpose instead of by accident.
So, I'll ask you this. What could you say yes to this week?