Make A Leap Of Faith

'Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a prettily preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways in a shower of gravel and party shards, thoroughly used, utterly exhausted, and loudly proclaiming: "WOW...what a ride!"'

I love this quote. I'm not too sure who said it - I've stumbled across several variations on the internet - but whoever it was, they sound like they'd have been a fun person to know.

Why do we lead such cautious lives? Why do we hold ourselves back from pursuing our dreams? Of course there are many reasons, but a very common one is fear of failure.

We can minimise the risk of failure; by understanding our strengths, taking account of our weaknesses, reading books, talking to experts, going on training courses, drawing up detailed plans...the list is endless.

But however well we prepare, we can't ever be completely sure of success. We can't eliminate the element of risk entirely. We have to make a leap of faith.

And actually, what's the worst that can happen if we do fail? If say, we embark on a new career and find out we hate it, or start a business which flops?

We won't die. We might feel we've wasted time and money; but if we've planned sensibly, and started out small, we shouldn't be talking huge sums, or years lost. And we'll have learnt a lot about ourselves that we wouldn't otherwise know, that will help us steer a better path in the future.

Yet I know that whilst rationalising in this way can help us face our fears, making that leap is still incredibly difficult. The tragedy is, most people never do realise their true potential. Often people only act when pushed to the absolute brink; when a life crisis, like a bereavement or a cancer scare, has forced them to appreciate the wisdom of that old adage - life is not a dress rehearsal.

I put off one of my dreams - working overseas - for ten years. I danced around the edges of it, flirting with this idea and that, never actually taking the plunge. Then my crisis came along in the shape of an unexpected pregnancy. I was no longer with the father, who had recently met someone else and decided therefore that he could not be involved. I felt like I had messed up my child's life, and my own life, and the dream of living abroad seemed further out of reach than ever.

But then, as bit by bit I got to grips with the situation - worked out my budget, told family and friends - I realised that I could in fact cope. I also saw that single motherhood in an expensive city like London was not an enticing prospect! I called my bluff; it was now or never. We moved to Beijing the day Elsa turned three months' old.

I wonder now if I would ever have found the courage to move overseas had I not been propelled into action by some pretty desperate circumstances. So, besides the fact that I love my wonderful daughter to pieces in her own right, I'm grateful to her for forcing me to take a risk, go for what I really wanted, and end up happier than I've ever been in my life.

Now of course I have other dreams. I want my coaching business to be a big success. I know some of the things I need to do to make that happen. But again, the fear of failure raises its ugly head. And with life going pretty well - not a brink or crisis in sight - it's really hard to muster up the courage to make that scary leap of faith.

I'm sure that many of you have your own dreams that you'd like to realise. Ask yourself, what would you do if you were pushed to the brink - would you leap? And if so, why not do it now? Don't hang around any longer in the wings, an understudy in your own life.

To your leap!