“Do the things that scare you but feel right”

The Great Wall of China

Last Friday I headed towards the Guangzhou Library in the modern Zhujiang New Town district to participate in the 3rd Women in Business Forum. I’d just heard about the event the day before at Guangzhou Stuff and decided to go. The event included four inspirational speakers, but the presentation I loved the most was Meera Saujani’s.

Meera graduated from Oxford (only because her high school teacher advised her to apply, she thought it would be impossible to get in), worked in advertising and then decided to travel the world for one year in 2011. After the amazing trip she went back to the UK to work for the BBC, but left again in 2013 to work in Shanghai for the British Council.

The main thought behind her brilliant presentation was to “Do the things that scare you but feel right”. It reminded me of my decision to move to China. Applying for the study exchange was pretty easy, I didn’t even know if I would get in or not. Then the news came and it was suddenly very real that I was going to the Middle Kingdom, at least for one semester.

I started planning and preparing. Put my belongings in the storage, sub-rented my apartment and packed my rucksack. Two weeks before my flight I got scared. Was this really what I wanted to do? Would I end up hating the life in China and lose my interest towards the culture and the language? What fs my expectations were just too big?

In her speech Meera was talking about the same thing, that she was terrified before her one year trip across the world. But in her life, and I think I’ve done the same too, she pursues to do those things that scare her but still feel right to her.

I remember having a lunch with a reader last year that was traveling in Guangzhou. She had this dream of moving to China, but she was afraid to leave her job, apartment, family and friends back home. In other words, she was afraid to leave her comfort zone. I haven’t heard from her since, but if you are reading this right now, I still advice you to make your dreams come true.

Right  now I also have things that I want to do, but are a bit scary to put in action. While listening to Meera’s presentation I realized that doing it really feels right for me, it’s something that I just might be meant to do. I’ve also recently met a new friend who has encouraged me to pursue the dream. Hopefully I can write about it soon to all of you!

Do you have dreams that you want to make true but are afraid to do so? Do they still feel right in your mind and heart? What has kept you from pursuing the dreams or how did you decide to take the first step towards making them true?