I bet you know the feeling when you are not quite sure about things. When you do not want to do something, because you are not sure you can hack it. That it is simply impossible. You really want something but are afraid of taking a chance on yourself. So, you wait until you are more ready sometime in the future. Until you have more money. Until you have more courage. Until, until, until.
But what if the “until” never comes? And you keep putting it off and waiting until…
What if right now is the perfect moment. Right now, when your dream, your vision, your aspirations keep you awake at night?
Ever since high school, I have desired to travel. To discover the world. To get to know how different all the far-away cultures can be. To eat exotic food. To be a part of something not quite like from our western world. More and more, I was consumed by this desire. The time to come out of my shell came when a very good friend of mine suggested I visit him in Brazil, his home country.
At that time, he was about to leave Český Krumlov after having studied there for a year. During this time, we grew very close. I wanted to see what life in Brazil looked like, the stories were no longer enough. At the same time, the idea seemed utterly unrealistic! That distance!
Yes, I knew I wanted to travel far and see the world. I even had enough money to take the trip. It felt as if my friend’s offer came on a silver platter.
Basically, my only problem was my head and my conviction that alone, I couldn’t travel to Brazil (or anywhere else).
That I needed time to mentally prepare for such a thing and that my friend from college needed to come with me. That’s why I started to make the preparations with her. She wanted to go very much, because going to Brazil was her dream as well. Nonetheless, we were still only talking about it. Nothing more. After a few months of planning, she told me she could not go.
Suddenly, I knew that if I did not get my act together and went by myself, I would probably never make it to Brazil to visit my friend and his family. It just isn’t possible to rely on others to go with you, to have time, the courage or money to do that.
Today, this feels unbelievably humorous. Now I have a very different approach. Today, I have the courage to travel alone literally anywhere. Today, I find it funny that something so simple was so challenging back then.
I am certain I am not the only one who ever felt, or still feels, this way.
I am writing this article to show you that the only limitations you are experiencing are solely in your mind.
I was still afraid to travel by Czech trains alone just a few years prior. But here I was, buying a plane ticket to Brazil and leaving Prague for South America. Looking back, I understand that this was a milestone for my life. Even then, I had a feeling that it would be and important step toward the future.
That was 2012.
I have been travelling alone anywhere I wished ever since.
I am not afraid. On the contrary. I feel incredibly fulfilled. I am also very grateful to this moment when I decided to go all in. Alone. With no one else. It gave me the guts to keep pushing myself. Without even knowing, at that moment, I made a huge step towards realizing many of my future dreams.
I believe that many of you are in the same boat as I was back then.
You are looking for the courage, the strength, to come out of your comfort zone and discover what lies beyond it.
Beyond your bubble.
I am going to give it to you straight. It feels wonderful. It keeps pushing you further and it gives you a chance to move forward and not stay stuck in place.
To not be crushed by fear of failure or the feeling that you just cannot do it, is incredibly liberating.
When you finally decide to go for it, immediately, you get incredible strength to carry out your dreams.
Suddenly, you do not get discouraged as easily. You have the courage to travel to far-away lands, to live and travel abroad, to volunteer in a developing country or to build a house out of bamboo on an exotic island.
