The sun was beginning to wash the marsh in gold.
Not the harsh light of midday.
That wonderful early light that seems to arrive quietly, touching the tops of the grasses first, then slowly working its way down toward the water.
The marsh was waking up.
So was I.
And apparently, so was this Willet.
It landed along the edge of the marsh grass, mostly hidden from view.
Then it did something that made me smile.
It stuck its neck out.
Literally.
Its entire body remained safely tucked behind the grass while that long neck and head extended into the open.
Just far enough to get a good look at me.
I immediately understood the strategy.
Risk management.
The Willet version.
You go first, neck. Let me know what you find.
I’m reasonably certain the bird wasn’t contemplating the deeper meaning of courage, personal growth, or the pursuit of one’s full potential.
It was probably thinking:
What is that guy doing in my marsh?
But that’s the wonderful thing about spending time in nature.
Sometimes nature does something completely ordinary…
and makes you think about something much bigger.
The Willet lingered.
It watched me.
I watched it.
For a few moments, it felt less like wildlife photography and more like a visit.
No appointment.
No agenda.
No coffee.
Just two creatures studying one another from opposite sides of the marsh.
And for some reason, it made me feel special.
Then, as birds so often do, it left as suddenly as it had arrived.
Visit over.
But the thought stayed.
Sticking your neck out.
I’ve done a fair amount of that in my life.
To learn something I didn’t know.
To try something I wasn’t sure I could do.
To share an idea someone might reject.
To teach.
To lead.
To experiment.
To create.
To ask the question.
To take the chance.
To walk into situations where success was anything but guaranteed.
And the outcomes?
Well…
Sometimes success.
Sometimes embarrassment.
Occasionally spectacular embarrassment.
Sometimes humility.
Frequently laughter.
And, every now and then, something wonderful I never could have anticipated.
That’s the part we sometimes forget.
We spend a lot of our lives focused on accomplishments.
The promotion.
The business.
The photograph.
The award.
The finished project.
The person we’ve become.
But accomplishments aren’t really the beginning of the story.
They’re the outcomes.
The beginning is almost always much smaller.
A decision.
A first attempt.
A question.
A willingness to look a little foolish.
A moment when we move beyond the comfortable grass that has been hiding us and…
stick our neck out.
There is humility in that.
Because taking a risk means admitting we don’t know what will happen.
We might succeed.
We might fail.
We might discover we’re not nearly as talented as we thought we were.
That’s always an invigorating little surprise.
But we might also discover something else.
That we are capable of more than we imagined.
And perhaps that’s why regret has never been one of my outcomes.
Not every risk worked.
Not every idea succeeded.
Not every experiment produced what I hoped it would.
But every one of them moved me somewhere.
They taught me.
Changed me.
Humbled me.
Made me laugh.
And occasionally opened a door I wouldn’t have even known existed had I remained safely hidden in the grass.
Maybe becoming all we were meant to be isn’t one enormous leap of courage.
Maybe it’s a lifetime of small ones.
A thousand moments when something inside us whispers:
Go ahead.
Take a look.
Try.
See what’s out there.
The Willet eventually decided I wasn’t worth worrying about and flew away.
I stayed behind.
Thinking.
Smiling.
And grateful for another unexpected lesson from the marsh.
Because sometimes progress requires us to do something that feels just a little uncomfortable.
Sometimes becoming who we are capable of becoming requires accepting that the outcome isn’t guaranteed.
And sometimes…
sticking your neck out is essential.
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