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Taking risks can lead you to a better life

The common emotions I encounter in my coaching work are uncertainty, anxiety and stress. Stress caused by things happening quickly and there is simply too many things to handle. Life is reactive and people lose their focus and feel frustrated because of constant changes and redundancies. It seems that people feel stuck in a situation that they think they have no control over. I’ve tried to think where these anxieties and fears come from. Is the situation really such that there is no way out?

Often at a young age, we decide to follow narrow-mindedly a certain career path.  We must believe in it, be fully focused, and committed because we know that it’s going to require a lot of time and efforts to study and work on the right steps where things have to happen in a certain order. We follow this dream and work hard for it. Competition for positions is fierce. Some will achieve their goals early on and get to work for respected corporations or trending startups. 

The reality is often different than what we have thought in the beginning. It is wishful thinking that there would be lighter periods at work. There are always new projects and changes that turn things upside down and the truth for many is that there haven’t been much time to think about whether the chosen career path has been the right one. Even though something doesn’t feel right we often choose the familiar and safe life path year after year. Because so much time has been spent building this career and everything seem to be in control when salary comes into the account regularly. Life feels at least safe and guaranteed financially. But still a nagging feeling reminds us about another truth. 
 
The world is changing at a fast pace and companies are being restructured. When a company is going through transitions and the direction has been chaotic and difficult for a long time, people start to become anxious, lose their feeling of control and start to be afraid of all sort of things. At the same time, people lose their confidence and ability to clearly see their own situation. By this I mean that capable professionals panic about whether they will find work and how they will manage their life financially if they are made redundant. Having to leave the company feels like letting go of their identity and the fear takes on absurd proportions. On the other hand, fear is real and understandable. Uncertainty is always difficult to handle and overthinking drives people to the worst case scenarios. But in the end, is the worst scenario as bad as we think? What do you have to lose by believing in yourself? 

It is good to examine what things are scary and what things matter. How much does it matter what other people think or that you may lose a position in a prestigious company? When a career equals identity and statuses and positions matter, changes can be tough to deal with and once you’ve created a certain comfort zone financially, cutting costs may hurt your ego. Giving up something is always difficult. It’s hard to start living truthfully for yourself if you’ve lived in another truth for a long time. It’s hard to admit that life hasn’t felt good for a long time and the situation at work has only been the tip of the iceberg which lead to the realization that something needs to change.  

Security is just an illusion. This delusion keeps people in the comfort zone where people haven’t felt contentment for years. It’s good to ask yourself, is this what I really want from life? Is there something important in this challenging situation that I’ve have never had time to explore because I’ve only been focusing on creating a career? What if this is an opportunity to step into the uncomfort zone and take a new direction in life? Not the direction desired by society, loved ones, friends or your ego but the direction of your true self. Do you even know what you really want? 

Because we tend to seek security, we easily jump into the familiar and safest option. Even though we know that the grass isn’t greener on the other side and changing a company doesn’t often solve the problem we search for new opportunities from similar companies and positions. What about choosing something totally different that scares the hell out of you? When we tolerate discomfort and dare to make bold decisions, we can experience the best things in life. The best things are often not sure and safe. They always involve risks. Take risks and live the life your soul intended.

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