I love to see people discover their passion so they can enjoy living fuller, empowered lives. I believe you will find your passion when you gather the courage to do something different.
If what you are doing today does not thrill you, if you don’t spring out of bed looking forward to what each new day will hold, you owe it to yourself to make changes. Dare yourself to take action toward pursuing your true purpose.
When I resigned after nearly 20 years in advertising sales to pursue my passion for writing, friends said how “brave” I was. I had to disagree. To me, soldiers under fire are brave. I wasn’t exactly risking my life; I was merely risking my lifestyle, and that only took a bit of courage.
I was unhappy to the point of becoming physically ill. I saw more risk in staying where I was than in making a drastic career change. We have an obligation to ourselves and our bodies to be happy. If not, as I discovered, they will malfunction in an effort to get our attention.
Having the courage to take risks is exhilarating. By taking risks, I don’t mean jumping out of an airplane. I’m talking about risking it all … everything you know and everything you have been … for the chance to reinvent yourself and see who you can become.
I think that, for most people, moving forward in the hot pursuit of something new, exciting and purposeful will expose them to incredible new worlds. Many people find their passion while busy doing something else. So it’s important that we move forward.
If you need to muster the courage to make a change, try this exercise: Ask yourself, “If everything goes wrong, what’s the worst case scenario and what would it take for me to get back to where I was?” Many successful people believe in “burning their ships” as a means of eliminating any thought of retreat.
I, on the other hand, have found that examining the worst case scenario can take a lot of the pressure off of any new venture. Few situations are ever going to be as bad as our imaginations may suggest, and the comfort of knowing we could return to our previous lives may actually impart a greater degree of courage for the meeker seekers.
Judy Wright, a colleague, does end-of-life counseling. She discovered there are three regrets that most people experience: they didn’t take time to reflect more, they didn’t participate more fully in their own lives, and they didn’t take more chances or risks.
Now is the time to take action so that when your time here is through, you won’t have any regrets. Take a chance, try something new, be a bigger part of your own life, and stop to reflect along the way. Every day holds new excitement and possibilities; I am so grateful to be living a life of passion and purpose. It’s no wonder I want you to find yours, too.
you and your colleague’s 3 regrets to continue to move on, brilliantly and courageously both register and resonate with me: thank you
HI, Peter,
Thank you for your thoughtful comment. Every day is a gift. Glad this message resonated with you. Warm wishes for an amazing new year. Robin
I’m reading this at a time when I’m thinking of changing, going out of my comfort zone and taking risks… So thank you, your words are inspiration to me!
Good luck, Laura! Do all you can to prepare for your leap. I lived more modestly than I could have in order to save up as much as possible before I resigned from my job. Eleven years later, I still love being an entrepreneur and have never looked back. I work incredibly long hours, but I’m following my passion, inspiring and empowering others through my films and books, and believe, without a doubt, that I made the right choice in 2003.