How to Be Fearless and Take Risks in Life
“You will always have a home here”
At 21, I moved from my Portuguese hometown to Paris. In the 12 years that followed, I lived in 4 countries, quit a few jobs and relationships, changed careers completely, traveled full-time for some months, and created my own business.
Every time I start getting ideas about taking a new, bold step in my life, I have a chat with my parents. And every single time, no matter what my new plan is, my dad tells me this:
“You will always have a home here.”
It is the most powerful and liberating sentence I ever heard in my life and the base on which I build everything I do. I can try anything, literally anything, and if it all falls apart, I know I can go back to the place where I grew up. Not to hide from the world but to find my footing again in a place where I am loved and feel empowered.
What Psychology Tells Us About It
In 1944, British psychologist John Bowlby conducted a study called “Forty-four juvenile thieves”, where he noticed that a great percentage of boys who had been abandoned at a young age suffered from anger, humiliation, and a sense of worthlessness.
Bowlby theorized that what children need the most are the feeling of safety and the…
