Following the decisions and the changes I made in my life, some people started to call me "courageous", which sounds quite strange to me. The people who knew me four years ago would have never called me courageous. Yes, I have always had my own will, but I definitely was not consciously courageous. I was adapted, I did not know myself and perhaps the most courageous decision I made at that time was to go study abroad in China. In the beginning, I was constantly plagued by homesickness and the fear of being alone. But I grew tired of my fears dominating and shaping my life. My courage paid off, which allowed me to grow in the last years.
Well, the decision to become a Safari Guide, to turn my life upside down, to sell everything and to embark on a new, completely different career path just does not feel courageous to me – it just feels right. I am driven by clarity and by an inner feeling that is hard to put into words - perhaps best described with the word "blessed". I googled the word "courage" and according to Andreas Dick, psychologist, courage is made up of the following components:
1. take on a danger, a risk or an unpleasantness or sacrifice a security or a comfort, which can possibly result in death, physical injury, social ostracism or emotional deprivation;
2. a wise and prudent awareness of what is right and wrong in a particular moment;
3. hope and confidence in a happy, meaningful outcome;
4. a free choice of will;
Having read these components, I must admit to myself that I act more courageously than I would have defined it. But not in the sense of bravery, fear or civil courage, but rather I want to encourage. I realized that perhaps I unconsciously associated certain other terms with courage. After I had read the following last component, I had to smile as my inner incentive and the fulfilling energy could not be described more accurately:
5. a motive based on love.
I want to live my life from the bottom of my heart or wholeheartedly, not as an afterthought. Every day I consciously make every decision in my life, no matter how small. I also know that I bear the consequences alone and I do not make others responsible for my life anymore. I am courageous enough to take responsibility for my life. I define who I am through my thoughts, my actions and not through someone else's opinion and I no longer let the opinions of others become my reality.
I want to use my energy completely and holistically, down to the last drop. With a motive based on love. This could not be more fitting to my motto; your heart is free if you have the courage to follow it.