Let Passion Motivate You. Not Fear.

“Set a goal to achieve something that is so big, so exhilarating that it excites you and scares you at the same time. It must be a goal that is so appealing, so much in line with your spiritual core, that you can’t get it out of your mind. If you do not get chills when you set a goal, you’re not setting big enough goals.”

~Bob Proctor

Whether or not we believe in destiny, we are creating our tomorrows with decisions that we make today. Every person makes thousands of decisions every day. Some are as simple as what to make for breakfast, while other decisions have a stronger impact. i.e. Should I move my family to a new city; state; country? Most of the daily decisions we make are not even thought about. We look around at our environment and circumstances and we deduct that (for example) we have eggs and bread so it’s going to be scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.

Obviously a larger decision like moving across country takes a bit more contemplation. What are your thoughts when I even bring up a scenario like this? Do you immediately rule this out as an option in your life? I know, there are a million reasons why you can’t move your family across country. There’s this and there’s that and that other reason. It’s much easier to say “this is not an option in my life”. But, it is in fact an option in your life. What’s crazy is that it’s not the reasons that stop you from making huge life-transforming choices like this. You are creating the reasons that stop you from making huge life-transforming choices in your life.

When my husband and I were just dating, he asked me to go to Egypt to meet his parents. What an amazing opportunity, right? Being a scholar of interior design and art, of course, I said yes. I always had a deep desire to go to Egypt – who doesn’t? I never saw how I would get there. I thought it was for another life. How could I ever find myself in a land where art, design and civilization first made it’s lasting impact?

He left a few weeks before me, which left me alone in Chicago to contemplate this decision I had just made. I was going to fly to a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language. I didn’t understand why women had to cover their heads and honestly I didn’t know what to expect at all! Egypt is in fact a middle eastern country and the American media doesn’t paint a very pretty picture. The three weeks leading up to my journey turned me into a nervous wreck. My friends and family were warning me about going into the middle of a war zone, where protests and gun fights were a daily occurrence. When I told people I was going, they would look at me with worried looks on their faces and advised me to stay safe. They looked at me like they thought they would never see me again.

My stomach was in knots. I didn’t sleep very well. I couldn’t concentrate. Yet, I was also excited beyond any excitement I had ever felt. I imagined seeing hieroglyphics, the Pyramids and the Sphinx. I longed for this adventure. Regardless of my knotted stomach and sweaty palms, I knew I had to go on this journey.

I flew to Egypt and landed in a daze. An Egyptian man met me at the terminal and offered to help me with my visa and paperwork. He then took me to my then-boyfriend. It was 3 in the morning or something ridiculous. We got in a car and swept across Cairo in a blur to our hotel. Aside from Ayman, I had no idea who I was with, where we were going or what I was looking at outside of the car window, but I knew I felt safe and that this felt so right. I was in Egypt!

We stayed at a hotel that overlooked the Nile River. We could see the Pyramids from the balcony. It was so romantic and surreal. During this trip, I touched hieroglyphics with my own hands. I stood next to the Sphinx. We went to Alexandria and I stood where the library and lighthouse used to be! These were things I hadn’t even dared to dream. Ok, I had dreamt about it, but I never gave it any real attention. It just seemed so out of reach! The highlight of that trip was the day Ayman took me first to the Egyptian museum in Tahrir Square and then down to the Nile River to propose marriage to me.

What I would have missed had I given in to fear! What amazing sights I would not see had I made excuses for why I could not go to a foreign land that I didn’t understand. I would have missed out on a marriage to the man of my dreams had I not trusted that life was for me and not against me. I said “yes!” to opportunity and adventure and the Universe responded back with “yippee!”