Living the Life of Your Dreams Means Going Outside Your Comfort Zone
We have to be willing to take risks in order to live our best life
If you want to be able to live the extraordinary life of your dreams, you have to be willing to go outside your comfort zone - sometimes far outside your comfort zone - to be able to find true happiness.
When we moved from the US to Germany, we did just that. We left behind all that we knew: our friends, our family, our country. I came to somewhere I didn’t know the language or customs with the hope of creating a better life for myself and my family. Not a lot of people are willing or able to do something like that.
It takes a jumping off point. You have to go to the edge of the cliff and jump off, hoping there is something there at the bottom to catch you. You have to be willing to take the risk of falling to ever be able to fly.
Life is full of risks and challenges, and we have to be able to strongly believe in ourselves to be willing to stand up and meet them head on. It takes courage, faith and hard work to live the life of our dreams. We have to be willing to risk a huge failure to ever be able to achieve success.
If you are moving to a new place, starting a new relationship, or starting a new business there are risks involved. You can try to mitigate this through research and careful planning, but you will never truly understand all of the challenges you will face until you are in the thick of things.
When we moved to Germany, I thought I would be able to learn the language faster than I have. It has been a huge challenge for me, and I am still on a waiting list for German language classes after being here almost a year now. I was only able to take one introductory class when we first got here, and I didn’t learn enough to have a deep conversation with someone.
I can go through the check-out in stores, order dinner, or take my daughter to school. But I haven’t been able to form deep friendships yet because I can only half-understand deep conversations about life.
Eventually I will be able to learn and understand more, but it has been a challenge for me. You may face similar challenges to mine when you undertake something new in your own life. You may think you have planned for every scenario, but in truth, we can’t plan for everything, and there is always an element of the unexpected. This is why we need courage.
Making the leap of faith means that your courage and determination need to be stronger than your fears. It means you need to dedicate yourself to making your dreams into a reality. It means you need to be able to pivot and problem solve when things go wrong.
I hope that you are brave enough to follow your dreams too, even if it means taking a leap into the unexpected. You will be glad that you did.
All the best,
Nicole Dake