Take a chance to make a change.

If you had to make a choice between living the rest of your life in a familiar, known environment and location with a secure lifestyle, steady income from a stable job and be surrounded by the same, familiar people; or moving abroad, to an unknown country, not knowing more than one or two people from there(if even that), leaving a well paid, but potentially a dead end job, to start a new career or to study something completely different and living on a fairly low budget; which one would you choose?
Would you choose the comfortable but maybe slightly boring and numbing lifestyle or would you take a risk and see where the new opportunity takes you?

I think there are two types of people in the world - the ones who like the familiar and comfortable life and like to stay inside their comfort zone; and the ones who like to take risks, make changes and change their lives into a different direction, not fully knowing what exactly is going to happen. There are obviously different versions of this later one, for some people it might mean just changing jobs, leaving a long term relationship or moving to a new city in your country, but this time I'm talking about more drastic life changes. While there is nothing wrong with either one of these lifestyles and I've met successful and very happy people from both of these groups, I can't help but think that everyone should, at some point in their lives, take a risk and jump into the unknown.

I've been incredibly lucky in my life and have been given opportunities to live in different countries, this now being the third country where I'm living. I left my home country at the age of 20, lived in London for years, made it my new home, and now when approaching the age of 30, I'm again living in a new country, even a new continent. While none of these countries are anything exotic or complete opposites from each others, moving to a different country always takes adjusting and makes you learn so much about yourself. I am also lucky in that sense that my level of English language has always been good enough for me to be able to cope on my own. I might have not travelled in several countries, and there are so so many parts of the world that I have never seen at all, but living in different countries, being surrounded by different people from so many different cultures and settling in a new environment has definitely moulded me into the person who I am now, a person who I probably would have not become if I had never left my small home town. 

Recently, I have met some truly inspirational people, some from my home country, some from different places. All these people I'm referring to have made big changes in their lives and have achieved incredible things - travelled in numerous places in the world, worked very hard and achieved amazing international careers or left their family home to move across the globe to study in a language that is not your first.

The other day me and my partner had a great conversation about it never being too late to achieve something that you want. Ok, this conversation might have started from Googleing the 'most expensive cities to live in', to checking Donald Trump's net worth compared to some other incredibly wealthy people on this planet, but the point we got to was that you should never give up on improving yourself and working hard to achieve what you want in life. Whether it is to return to school after 10 years of not studying, starting up a business from scratch, or to learn a new language just for the sake of it. Some people find the correct path in their life at a young age, get educated in that field and land their dream job before the age of 30; they buy a house, have kids, go on regular vacations and pay their student loans off at the speed of light. On the other hand, there are people who are still trying to figure themselves out at an older age and don't find their way until much later - both of these ways are perfectly fine and not to be judged. 

Change your career if you don't like it, leave the bad relationship that makes you unhappy, educate yourself, learn a new skill, travel across the world, make friends from different cultures. No one will come and pick you up from your front door and tell you what to do(Well, unless you have an extremely pushy mother by any chance).

While I know it is not possible for all of us, but I would still recommend everyone to spend some time in an unfamiliar surrounding at some point in their lives. Whether it is a different country, different state or just a different city. Somewhere where you don't feel 100% comfortable in the beginning, somewhere that makes you feel a little nervous, but the good kind of butterflies-in-your-stomach kind of nervous, somewhere where you have to handle things on your own and learn something new. The world is such a huge and an amazing place that it is such a waste to be spending it in one spot and never see how people live on the other side. It could be an exchange year abroad while in university, doing some charity work for an organization in a different location, extended vacation to a different country(and yes you have to leave the resort and go an explore further than the poolside area) or looking for a new job in a different part of your country. Everything takes time, money and some planning but if you are focused and make a plan, it can all be achieved. While it might be a big risk and sometimes things don't quite go to plan but I can guarantee you that you'll regret more if you don't do it than if you took the chance and made a change. Even if worse comes worst and you end up unsuccessful in whatever you tried to do, at least you TRIED and you'll have one hell of a story to tell your grandchildren. Life is way too short to make it boring.

Yes, I might be paying off student loans and credit card payments for quite a while now, as nothing comes for free and money does not grow on trees, but when I become old and grey, sitting in my rocking chair sipping tea (or possibly champagne) while watching my grandchildren run around, I can never say that I didn't take risks or do anything different in my life. You'll only been given one life, why not make the most of it?