Doors and the Journey Beyond Them
Embracing courage and opportunity by opening the doors that lead to growth, change, and becoming who you're meant to be.
Walk Through the Door
I’ve always believed that doors exist for one reason: to be opened.
Think about it. If a space was never intended to be entered, it wouldn’t have a door at all. It would simply be a wall. A barrier. A dead end.
Every door was designed to lead somewhere.
Life is much the same.
Throughout our lives, we are constantly standing in front of doors. Some we confidently walk through. Others intimidate us. Some we ignore because we are afraid of what is waiting on the other side.
Yet every one of them represents something more than an opening.
It represents an opportunity.
It represents the beginning of a journey.
Not every door leads to a destination we have never seen. Some open into familiar rooms—places we have visited before. They remind us of where we have been, what we have learned, and sometimes even why we needed to leave in the first place.
There is comfort in those spaces, and occasionally we are meant to revisit them to gain a new perspective.
But it is the other doors that fascinate me.
The ones that open into empty rooms.
Most people see an empty room and think there is nothing there.
I see possibility.
An empty room is not empty because it lacks purpose. It is empty because it is waiting for someone to give it one.
It is a blank canvas.
It is a place where ideas become reality, where dreams begin to take shape, and where creativity has room to breathe.
Too often, we mistake emptiness for absence.
We walk away because we do not immediately see the finished product.
But growth rarely introduces itself fully developed.
It starts as an empty space.
A new career begins with a blank office.
A business begins with an empty notebook.
A friendship begins with a conversation.
A family begins with two people.
Even a hospital begins as an empty shell before it becomes a place where lives are saved.
Everything meaningful begins in a space that once appeared empty.
The challenge is not finding the perfect room.
The challenge is having the courage to walk through the door before you know what the room will become.
I have learned that some of the greatest opportunities in my life did not look like opportunities at all.
They looked like uncertainty.
They looked like hard work.
They looked like being the least experienced person in the room.
They looked like asking questions I was afraid to ask.
They looked like opening another codebook because I knew there was still more to learn.
None of those moments felt comfortable.
But comfort has never been where growth lives.
Every meaningful chapter of my life began by walking through a door that made me uncomfortable.
Sometimes I found exactly what I expected.
Sometimes I found something entirely different.
Sometimes I discovered strengths I did not know I had.
Sometimes I found mentors who changed the course of my life.
And sometimes I found failure.
But even failure became another doorway rather than a destination.
One lesson simply opened the next opportunity to grow.
Doors Don’t Just Open Inward
I have also realized something else.
Sometimes we become the ones holding doors open for someone else.
A mentor opens a door.
A teacher opens a door.
A parent opens a door.
A friend opens a door.
Leadership is not about walking through every opportunity first. Sometimes it is about making sure someone else has the courage to walk through theirs.
Maybe that is why I love teaching so much.
Every time I share knowledge, encourage someone to ask another question, or help a healthcare organization become safer, I feel like I am opening another door.
Not for me.
For someone else.
Looking back, I do not think success has been about reaching a destination.
It has been about having the courage to open one more door.
Some led to places I never imagined.
Others led me right back to where I started, but with more wisdom than before.
Every one of them had something to teach me.
So, the next time you find yourself standing in front of a closed door, do not focus only on what you might lose by opening it.
Ask yourself instead:
What if the greatest opportunity of my life is waiting on the other side?
Because doors were never meant to stay closed.
They were built to be opened.
Some doors lead us to opportunities we never imagined. Some lead us to lessons we never expected. Others lead us to people who forever change our lives.
There are doors that challenge us, doors that humble us, doors that remind us where we have been, and doors that reveal who we are becoming.
And then there are doors that lead us to a place of rest.
A place where the hard work has been done, the lessons have been learned, and peace replaces striving.
Rest is not the absence of purpose; it is often the reward for a life lived with courage, perseverance, and faith.
Every door has a purpose.
Every journey has meaning.
Every room has something to teach us.
And every door you choose to walk through has the potential to change not only where you are going, but who you are becoming.
So do not be afraid to reach for the handle.
You were never meant to spend your life standing in the hallway.
Walk through the door.
