Change is coming...
In the month of August I made a decision that will change everything. It will change my daily routine, it will change the people I interact with on a daily basis. It will change everything that has been familiar for the last eighteen years of my life. I am taking a big risk, I am branching out on my own. I must be insane. What am I thinking? What makes me think I can do it? How dare I? What if I fail? What will my family say? What will my friends think? The economy is in recession…..
I am not alone in thinking that way. Unfortunately our brain can be our worst enemy, our biggest saboteur. Why? I suppose it is all about survival, our brain is wired to help us survive and the little voice we constantly hear telling us we can’t do something is just a natural occurrence when we are gearing up for major changes. Call it the risk management of the natural world.
We humans are also trained to be risk avert, we try to avoid risk as much as possible. We could get into a big debate about why we are conditioned to avoid risk, but I am sure we would go round in circles. The point is, we have a natural element in our brain steering us from risk or danger and we also have societal impositions that train us to shy away from assuming risk, steering us to take the safest path.
So do we stop listening to that voice which is there to keep us from harm? Absolutely! Doubting yourself is normal. Change is the only constant and we as humans evolve and change constantly. Fearing change will only leave us anxious and lead to overthinking. Well! We know that our wonderful brain can spin up a plethora of doomsday scenarios. The amount of thoughts we can produce in an anxious and fearful state is exponential. This will obviously have an effect on our mental and physical health, but it is something we can indeed control mindfully. Of course I am not saying that change isn't scary. It certainly is. I experience that fear as well, but staying put just for the sake of not being afraid doesn’t make much sense. At least it does not to me and trust me, my brain has given me one thousand scenarios where everything goes wrong as I am writing these humble words.
Now I am not saying go out there and take every risk or become a daredevil. All I am saying is, try to quiet your mind, assess the risk and go do what makes you thrive. Risk is scary but it can also lead you down a path you didn’t think was possible. Always mindful that the path will bring unknown things your way, you keep walking confidently. Will there be setbacks? Yes, there will be, but know that you have made it this far….Believe you will continue to thrive.
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