The leap of faith
In life, nothing is ever easy. Some decisions are hard to make, some seem impossible. What do you do? What do you do if you’re mind is saying no but that’s what you have to do?
It’s a nice picture okay?! I love Assassin’s Creed too, don’t judge me!
The game is a good representation of the phrase, “Leap of Faith”. In the game, you’re high up, and you leap off ledges and wooden scaffolds to land in what seems to be tiny bales of hay from high up.
You can say it’s skill or just pure crazy, but in the game, Assassin or not, it’s a game of chance every time, if you look at it realistically.
Let’s be honest, we won’t be jumping off buildings into bales of hay in life.
As cool as it may sound, we won’t be doing that any time soon. What we will be faced with is challenges in life and at work. We will be posed decisions that aren’t easy to make, ones that either require commitment and investment, or something we don’t want to do.
The life challenges. What exactly are they? They are the kind of problems and decisions that you face, that’ll inevitably change the course of your life, drastically.
No. Exhibit A is not one of those important, life changing decisions I am talking about. Sorry to break it to you, life isn’t that simple.
If your biggest life decision revolves around condoms and fried chicken, I have news for you.
You need help.
On a serious note, its the kind of decision that has larger implications in life, ones that’ll have lasting impact.
For me, in my time roaming this earth, it was a lot of moving from place to place. Growing up getting used to upping roots and planting myself elsewhere, life changes pretty rapidly.
I remember the first time I moved, it was to Bangkok, then India for 6 months, then Cambodia (which was rather interesting), Malaysia and last but not least, Singapore.
The countries I’ve spent most of my life living in, albeit there’s more to the list, but visits don’t really count now right?
Moving is a disruption in your everyday life and does affect your future exponentially. It would mean a new house, new people, new environment, new work/school.
Then, there’s trust. I think if you’re reading this, you would know by now that trust isn’t something that you should give out so easily like that. It is far more valuable than you think.
If you have it, keep it and cherish it well. When you’re giving it, make sure that the person actually deserve it. In a way, this life decision is also a form of taking a leap of faith.
Many a man take first impressions as how the person is. They’ve yet to learn it is but a facade.
I feel that some people trust to easily in this world. Especially how the world is now, it is dangerous just to trust a random stranger. The days of not second guessing one’s kindness are gone.
The workplace
So life has more decisions that can be made, what about the workplace? Work is work, I can do what I want, right?
It’s a huge decision, work. When you graduate, you might think it’s fine, but a few years down the road, what you do, determines your quality of living. Your future and how you do in life depends on it.
What do you consider when getting a job? The location? The salary? The perks? The status?
Find a job that makes you happy.
There’s nothing worst than sitting at a desk from 9 to 5 everyday for the rest of your life if your true passion was, I don’t know, photography. (Or being a ballet instructor if that’s your thing, I won’t judge.)
What path you choose to go down on, will eventually also determine the happiness that you will have.
What is this leap of faith you speak of?
It seems like all I’ve been saying is just a load of tough decisions that you have to make in life. That bit is true. However, has it not been apparent that most of the things, you just need to jump in and see what happens?
There are many talented people who haven’t fulfilled their dreams because they over thought it, or they were too cautious, and were unwilling to make the leap of faith. — James Cameron
Many times, opportunities and possibilities comes and goes because we aren’t willing to take the chance, the risk. We’re afraid of the implications that may be.
When something pops up, an opportunity, we tend to get scared of it. We think of the pros and cons and ponder too much on the cons of it all.
I’ve taken many leaps.
Some, I regretted; others, I thanked myself for having taken the risk.
Nothing is foolproof and there will always be leaps that doesn’t work out as well as you might have hoped.
You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take — Wayne Gretzky
Gretzky has a lot of sense. A lot of things that has happened in my life, happened because I was crazy enough to jump and see what happens. (I’m serious, half the things I do has very little odds in my favour)
But it pays off! I’ve leaped on and invested in unlikely ventures, prospects and even out of work, in life.
Moving back to Indonesia, isn’t one of my better choices, and is an example of one leap I took that didn’t really pan out. However, the ratio between good and bad of all my risk taking outweighs the bad.
At work, never be afraid to try something new, do something uncalled for. As silly, ridiculous and downright crazy it may seem, it’ll pay off.
Nobody is perfect. But guess what, the real world rewards those who get stuff done. — Thomas Oppong
I took a leap of faith working with this one client I have. I was skeptical about the prospect, it was against all odds and didn’t seem wise to pursue. I did, and I’m glad I did.
Now, he is one of my biggest supporter and we continue to do business, win-win.
The only way to find true happiness is to risk being completely cut open. — Chuck Palahniuk
We need to risk a lot to get what we want. There are certain things that you just need to do in order to move forward. Not everything is easy, but if we don’t take the plunge, how do we move forward?
Many times have people actually been afraid of change. Afraid to question the norm, the rules, other people. Sometimes, you just need to jump to see what happens.
Enjoyed the read? Glad you did. See that heart? It’ll help me a lot and you’ll feel good!
Connect with me!
Email: me@alphamichael.com
Twitter: @AaronMichaelz
Instagram: @AaronMichaelz
