Edward Hopper, Rooms by the Sea, oil on canvas, 1951
We all stand at a door, most often closed by default clarifying that a choice must be made. If we’re lucky, the door may sit ajar, but in either case, whats on the other side is the unknown, the unfelt, and the undiscovered. We face doors of struggle, doors of fear, all doors of reality... day in and day out, the doors are there to show us who we are and better still, doors of who we may become. So what is one to do standing in front of life’s beautiful, treacherous doors? There is only one way. Open them.
When we face a new door, whether it’s a break-up, an apology, a new job, or saying “I love you”, we must remind ourselves that without passing through the door, standing in the sill making the commitment towards tomorrow, that we are not alone. Moment by moment other doors have been and will be ventured through and we are not alone. “I’m just not sure”, “what would happen if...”, “I just can’t”. They all have their knobs of uncertainty, but on the other side of the door they all have their, “I didn’t realize that”, “if I only would have known”, and most often, “I wish I would have sooner”. Doors are markers, milestones, victory banners, no matter how small or large, because doors mark our progress.
God gave us the gift of these doors. He allows for good and evil, for birth and death, for victory and defeat, but he gives us these wonderful doors of progress. Doors of growth and evolution.
On the other side of a choice, of a small action, there is impact. With one foot in front of the the other we carry through to the other side and we’re rewarded with change, with new. Standing still is an illusion of our control. As time passes choices are made, indifference is a choice, inaction is an action, and so I say we must pass through. Fear is the disease, action is the antidote and I open the door with eyes wide open. I open my heart and soul to whats on the other side of the door because I was designed for just that.
We stand at the door, and sometimes we knock, or we peer through the keyhole to build confidence, to increase certainty, but the other side awaits regardless of our hesitation, regardless of our preparation. Knock if you like, get out your key, turn the knob, or use your battering ram, and blow the hinges off the motherfucker because on the other side waits unimaginable rewards. The gold at the end of a rainbow. X marks the spot.
On the other side is the confidence of momentum.
The discipline of yet another choice.
And thank God, yet another door.
— Ryan Graves, Jan 2026