All the things around you, the people you hang out with and interact, the things that you read, the movies you watch and the music you listen to, is shaping who you are. Our brains are like sponges, taking in all the things we experience with our senses. Our thoughts are shaped by these factors, and how and what we think is directly forming our behaviour.
I remember going to a book fair and there was a book that caught my attention (among all other self-help books). It was Louise Hay’s “The power is within you”. I am not sure if it was the book cover or this catchy book title but I decided to buy it. That was the very first time I came across the power of positive thinking, but not in a usual way, but in a way where it was taught like a science and not something abstract. I was skeptical of all those concepts, but after discovering more authors (and more recently Brian Tracy, and Tony Robbins) I started questioning myself and where I stand. This is actually where I found interest in psychology in general and later on, (when I was doing a couple of jobs at the same time to help my family financially) in respectful parenting, which I tried to apply with the children I babysat.
Two years ago together with my family I have decided to take a leap of faith and move to Turkey. The change, no matter how small it seemed, was big. But I cannot say that at that exact moment I was aware of it. Now, when I look back I can say “Wow, that was indeed a brave thing to do.” It was a brave thing to leave my parents and family behind, it was a brave thing to cancel a project for which I have gained a certain amount of financial help from the government (and whoever did any business in Bosnia knows how much it takes to gather all the needed documents and papers), it was a brave thing to be ready for some new and better things to come and I remember we came here with so much hope and positive mindset and indeed, I am living the best life I can (with ups and downs of course).
Change is good, and just the other day I was thinking and talking with my husband about what would have happened if we never changed anything in our lives (generally, not only about our life). We stop to grow when things stay the same, we become so comfortable with that steady job and that house we bought and all other material things that bring us some kind of comfort, that we don’t actually realize how much certainty and stability are killing us. OK, so we are reading and learning and going to this conference and that course, but is really making a growing? What made me grow every time was traveling. But not a vacation kind of thing. That kind of traveling where you actually from your home and comfort zone and meet other people, and their way of working, thinking, and interacting.
I had crazy life opportunities which I will always be thankful for. Sometime after graduating from university, I had a couple of years to get to meet people from India, Russia, Israel, Brasil, USA, France, Finland, and Switzerland and have some of the most meaningful conversations. That was actually the first time I realized that I was living in a shell, my small world with my rigid rules.
And, in the conclusion, there is this well-known quote on my mind right now by Roy T. Bennett: “Change begins at the end of your comfort zone.”