What scares you more, the idea of failing… or the idea of knowing that you never tried? There will be a point in everyone’s life where you hit a crossroads, and you’re not 100% sure on which way to turn.

Life and success doesn’t just happen overnight, you’ve got to put the work in to get the rewards out. Failure is how we learn, and what makes us stronger. It’s very easy to become comfortable with life, and as a result of this the option to push yourself out of your comfort zone begins to narrow further as time goes on.

The first step is always the hardest. That decision and moment of belief in yourself to say I can do this and this is what I want to do with my life will always be challenging. This comes down to the fear of change, change from the only life you’ve ever known and what awaits on the other side. Truth be told, we will never know what the future holds for us, and hindsight will always be a wonderful thing.

For me personally, I’ve recently made this choice, and at this stage now after just turning the ripe age of 30, the only regret I have is I probably should have made that leap of faith sooner. I’d worked in retail for 10+ years in my one and only job, and ultimately just had enough, and I knew after planning it for a while, I needed a change. It took a while to decide, but when I finally decided to pull the trigger, honestly it was the best feeling ever.

From experience, the best advice I could give is to trust the process. If you have no ties and are wanting to experience new cultures and travel the world, if there is nothing stopping you, then go for it. The way I looked at it and what ultimately made my decision complete for me was the fact that I felt that I would regret it when looking back if I didn’t make that jump.

Now, nearly a year after leaving my job, I’ve spent a long period of time in Asia and am now currently in New Zealand at the start of a year here on a Working Holiday Visa. The visa allows me to both travel and work in New Zealand for up to a year which also includes the option to extend further. This is my new beginning, a complete change to the only way of life I’ve ever known, however I couldn’t be happier knowing I made that leap of faith.

Ultimately, will you regret that you never tried? With every hurdle, there comes a new opportunity to learn, explore, connect with new people. A leap of faith, but one which you can believe in yourself within.

Ask yourself, What if? Or I tried!