A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there.
Good morning everybody! How are you today? It’s set. I am leaving China in August of this year with a whole lot of incredible memories, experiences and new-found beliefs about myself. It has truly been a pleasure and I’m extremely grateful to myself for putting myself out there by making the move in 2019, and persevering through the difficult times.
Listen to your intuition
However it is now time to move on and I am absolutely delighted. I can see myself becoming too comfortable if I continue to remain here, and that is never a good sign. It started in my previous job role, I knew I needed a change and I decided to make the move to Shanghai – it was always my dream to live in a mega city. Complete. The next time my intuition communicated with me was at the start of this year. I knew that I wanted to stop teaching and managing children and instead work with adults – something much more fulfilling for me.
Coincidence?
Therefore I was contemplating different options such as studying psychology, or looking at becoming a therapist, or working in business – as is my background. None of these options felt right to me though, and they were derived from a confused state. I just wasn’t sure. However my good friend shared a course to me which was an introduction to life coaching and I immediately signed up – I’ve wanted to become a Life Coach since my teenage years. However I waited until the time was right – I knew the time would come. This course was very insightful and made me want to do the full thing. The time was now.
I then discovered that this organisation also provided a complete course consisting of four modules, which culminates in becoming a qualified Life Coach. I’m currently enrolled in the offline version of this course, and as challenging as it is, it’s the best thing I could have ever done. It’s what I want.
What’s my point? Honestly, I had different plans for life. I was planning to leave China this summer and return post-surgery, and then start the online course for Life Coaching in November and graduate in 2023! However then I realised that if I left China, I wouldn’t be able to return. Hence my decision to take the course now and graduate before I leave China. Is it a coincidence that the offline course is available now, just when I need it the most? Absolutely not. Everything just seems to work out.
Don’t trust your plans for life, trust life’s plans for you.
Tony Dhillon
The trap of comfort
I am currently 25 years old, and throughout my life I’ve always been told that I am extremely grounded and mature for my age. However it’s never really meant much to me. I’ve always known what I’ve wanted and known that to achieve anything great would require a great deal of time, effort and faith. As well as the ability to overcome obstacles, with the primary obstacle being comfort. When you’re purpose-driven, comfort will come to you in many different forms to tame you, delay you, even stop you.
I mentioned above that initially I wanted to return to China post-surgery. The reason being is that life is comfortable here. It’s extremely convenient to get around, I can speak Mandarin and the job opportunities are great. But here’s the thing: the job opportunities that are most in-demand here are English teaching roles. English teaching roles are no longer of interest to me. I cannot ignore that. Ignoring that would be ignoring my intuition and everything I stand for and wish to achieve.
There’s always another option
Therefore when I weighed it up I found myself with two options. I could either delay my surgery further or even look to do it in China and continue teaching, something my intuition tells me to move on from. Or, I could return to the UK as a fully qualified Life Coach, have a successful surgery and recover with my family. Then continue to follow my purpose and move onto the next chapter of my life, outside of China.
When I thought about it, the decision was easy. It’s the latter. I have always lived with purpose and trusted my intuition and I cannot and will not ignore it now. Comfort will appear in many different forms and disguises. It’s up to us to identify what we want from life and then act accordingly. For if we want growth and success, comfort is no good to us. Comfort is one of the greatest killers of ambition, up there with self-doubt. Become great, say no to comfort.
The comfort zone is the great enemy of courage and confidence.
Brian Tracy
Thank you for reading. I hope you found this blog relatable and enlightening.
With gratitude,
Tony.
