Moving abroad, leaving everything behind to travel the world or simply deciding to do something that is very different from what the people around you are used to – all of these things require a lot of bravery. As soon as you realize that you want more out of life, that you want to explore, to find out more about the world and about yourself, it’s pretty hard to get it out of your head again. It’s one thing to have these dreams, it’s a different story to make them become reality. Even though this new experience is super exciting, you might find a lot of what if’s in your mind. If you are at a similar point right now, looking for answers, not knowing if you should make this impactful change in your life or not, this is how I found certainty.
It’s one thing to have these dreams, it’s a different story to make them become reality.
No matter what decision you are struggling with, try to find the worst possible outcome of both options: What is the worst that could happen if you decide to make this change? What is the worst that could happen if you don’t do it? These questions actually helped me a lot, not only to make the decision to go to South Africa but also to make other people understand my perspective. Your personal worst-case scenario might be a lot different than mine but I think it might also be applicable to a lot of situations, so I’ll just share it with you. Here’s my two worst-case scenarios:
Q: What is the worst that could happen if I decide to give up everything I know and build a business in South Africa?
A: Our idea doesn’t work, eventually we run out of money and we lose everything that we have.
Q: What is the worst that could happen if I decide to carry on with my life like I always did and not take the risk to go to South Africa?
A: For the rest of my life I might wonder what would’ve happened if I had taken the chance.
If your mind works similar to mine, you might understand that the second scenario would actually be a lot worse for me than the worst possible outcome of taking the risk. I thought to myself that even if everything did go wrong and even if I did lose all my money, that at the end of the day I would find a way forward. Not only because I believe in the people around me and that they would never let me down, but especially because I believe in myself.
No matter what your answers might look like, I am pretty sure that you will look at them and see quite easily, which scenario would be worse for you. So even if your possible outcome of taking that chance seems to be worse than not trying, ask yourself if you really want to base your life on the fear of failure. Of course, it’s safer in a harbor, where you don’t have to face the wild storms, high waves and the miserable weather but don’t you want to see how beautiful the ocean can be? I personally could never imagine living my life guessing what I could have been capable of achieving. Like it is written in one of my favorite books, I truly believe that there are only two forces in life: love and fear.
It is okay to be scared of things that might happen to you on your journey, you don’t have to be fearless to be brave. Just don’t let the monsters in your head force you into a life that might seem to be super safe but that is actually just horribly boring. Grab your fears by their hair, tell them that you know they exist and that you are going to do it either way. You don’t need an answer to everything all at once, it is even okay to get a little bit lost in the process – because I am convinced that as long as you base your decisions on love and never on fear, that there is no storm on earth that you can’t get through. Know your fears and your worst-case scenarios but let love always be the answer.
