Exit the self-preservation zone
The moment you buy a one-way ticket to the world, possibilities abound and the universe works with you, never against you.
Vietnam. May 2011. I’d just extended my visa past the month it originally expired. Electric green rice paddy fields surrounded me like wispy clouds embracing the vast and open sky. I ordered a ca phe den nong, hot black Vietnamese-style coffee, from a tiny, middle-aged woman with a weary straw hat on the side of the street. The jet-black liquid was potent enough to jump start the motorbikes that swarmed the roads like summertime butterflies in your backyard. And it was then that I smiled, gregariously and abundantly.
I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t jumped on a plane and allowed the world to teach me, I thought, amused.
When we’re faced with two options, One, the tried-and-true path of perceived stability, steadiness, the pitter-patter, inch-by-inch lifestyle, or Two, the completely ambiguous, terrifying and non-traditional lifestyle, most of us opt for the first. And who can blame us? When the unknown looms ahead, natural fear and a desire for comfort can be all it takes to hold us back forever.
But alas! There is hope. The Latin proverb, Omnia mea mecum porto, which translates to “All that’s mine I carry with me,” is apt when it comes to exiting the self-preservation zone.
You are fully able. You are incredibly savvy. You already carry everything that you could ever need within you.
Sure, I can be safe at home. But I’m gloriously challenged when I’m not.
Sure, I can be comfortable by sticking with what I know. But I’m much more invigorated by the unknown.
Sure, I can live a steady, conventional lifestyle. But this way, I’m completely free to lead my own personal revolution: To live wildly with serious intensity.
Self-evolution turns full speed when one exits the bubble and enters the open space. It’s only from the inside, still mired in apathy, ignorance, and mediocrity, that the bubble seems like a very good choice.
I say pop that bubble. You already have everything you need. Live out your most fervent revolutionary dreams. You can and you will be free.
Creating a world far from apathy and false promises, Nina Yau is leading others as a prolific writer, traveler, thinker and philosopher. She’s a Truth-seeker who dives deep into the heart of what matters and has written a few books.
Nina lives anywhere in the world, with home bases in Chicago and Taiwan.
