Are you willing to make a change? How to find the courage and take the First Step and make your dreams come true
You have hopes, dreams, and desires. You want to create a coffee shop, a French bakery, or perhaps a pet store.
You want to do so many things with your life. But you also have a mortgage to pay, a car that needs to be repaired, and a dog that requires costly medical treatment.
I hope that you have the courage to choose yourself, over and over. hope you have the courage to move forward, not backwards. To choose growth over comfort, to choose possibility over the past. I hope you know how worthy you are of everything you’ve ever wanted, even if an unkind heart has lead you to believe otherwise. Your soft heart deserves to feel loved and chosen, not just today, but every day.
Anonymous
What is a cash-strapped dreamer to do when her ambitions collide with harsh realities? Make some difficult decisions.
“Nelson Mandela once remarked that courage is the triumph over fear, not the absence of fear.” The brave guy is not one who is not scared, but one who overcomes that fear.” offers leadership expert, coach, and psychologist, Manfred Kets de Vries.
He goes on to offer four ideas for determining what needs to change in your life and how to generate the courage to take that essential leap of faith:
1) The fact that you’re unhappy is an indicator that something has to change.
Vanessa, 37, saw leaving a well-paying corporate job as an HR manager in Montreal to boost the stakes and buy a home in California with her husband as the appropriate remedy for her persistent case of urban misery.
The Cambridge native admits she despises city life, especially public transportation, and feels “stuck” and out of her “element” in the business world.
“I’ve been unhappy,” she says. “I don’t want to stay here in a lousy job and become increasingly unhappy.”
“Pay attention to your moods and emotions,” says Kets de Vries, who lives in the Netherlands. “If you find yourself feeling annoyed, resentful, irritable, bored, or even depressed on a daily basis, it’s a solid sign that you need to address something in your life.”
And don’t be hesitant to follow your instincts. “Tune in to your instincts and be very honest about what is holding you down,” suggests Kets de Vries. That could entail admitting that a relationship isn’t working or that your job, while financially gratifying, isn’t appropriate for you.
2) Find out what’s really stopping you from achieving your goals
Once you’ve discovered the necessary change, confront the real impediment to change: fear.
“All change, even good change, is difficult because it entails leaving behind the known and predictable and entering the unfamiliar,” he explains.
What scares you the most about making a change? Is it the dread of losing a nice lifestyle and going bankrupt? Or are you scared of failing? Perhaps it’s both.
However, rather of allowing fear to paralyze you, let it to energize you, advises Kets de Vries. “Fear has a lot of energy.” By channeling that energy, we can use it as a motivator for daring action — not in the absence of fear, but in its presence.”
Vanessa believes that making a change requires “courage” and faith in oneself. “It feels so utterly like the correct thing to do,” she says of the change.
That isn’t to say she isn’t nervous. “Truthfully, I think I can do it,” she says, not allowing anything stand in the way of what she wants.
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3) Courage is a muscle that needs to be exercised
Don’t worry if you don’t have Vanessa’s confidence (yet). According to Kets de Vriesl, taking part in doable courageous acts might help you grow confidence. He compares these little acts to exercises that strengthen “your courage muscles.”
Trying new things, activities, and experiences — anything that takes you out of your comfort zone — can help you trim the fear and work your courage muscles. He advises you to seek out the company of people who demand more of you, or to take on a new skill.
The goal is to make challenging yourself a habit – physically, emotionally, psychologically, and intellectually.
4) Link your heart and your head
Give your aspirations weight by connecting them to your life ideals. “If you want to keep a resolve that demands changing a long-held habit of thought or action, it has to go beyond superficial desires and connect with your deepest beliefs,” explains Kets de Vries.
“When you have a stronger sense of purpose, it forces you to dig deep when things go rough and stay the path – no matter what obstacles you have to overcome.”
While becoming a farmer fulfills Vanessa’s love of nature and wide spaces, it also fits her views about ethical living and eating.
“My husband is a licensed chef, and we want to be involved in our food chain and supply people with nutritious products.” I hope everyone would own a tiny farm and start feeding themselves again. It would benefit ourselves, the animals, and the environment.”
And above all, when finding the courage to change your life
Bring out the older you.
In times of uncertainty, imagine yourself 30 years in the future.
“Imagine you’re looking back on your life,” Kets de Vries suggests. “Given your current track, what are you most likely to regret in the future?” If you’re unhappy at work, you’ll grow even more unhappy, and even more apathetic. “You’ll only become more numb to life,” Kets de Vries adds.
Vanessa agrees, saying, “Life is too short to be miserable.”
If contemplating about how your inner octogenarian would perceive your decisions doesn’t compel you to change, Kets de Vries suggests drawing inspiration from someone who never saw some hard realities as a barrier to attaining her objectives.
To paraphrase Dale Carnegie,
Inaction generates uncertainty and fear. Action promotes self-assurance and courage. If you want to overcome fear, don’t sit at home thinking about it. Get out there and do something.
Have you ever made a life-altering choice for the better? Please leave a comment below.
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