I must admit that it took me quite a while to take the courage. If I am completely honest this “quite a while” was in fact a good few years, 3 to 4 years to be exact.

What took me so long? After many years spent working in corporate Human Resources; many exciting and interesting years, with many challenges, collecting many experiences, not forgetting the pleasure derived from working with a large number of diverse personalities and profiles, I had the urge to develop my career further, leveraging my many years of experience in Human Resources.

I had a number of visions and the wish to grow further, but I found myself far removed from the courage zone and unable to just go and achieve what I wanted to achieve.

I felt constrained by job restrictions, loyalty and security. Thoughts like you cannot possibly quit your job, what about financial security, how will you find the next opportunity, training first or make the move first? were contributing to my inability to move forward. In addition to all that my comfort zone was very attractive – an employer of choice, an amazing team (fun with a good team spirit), nice compensation package.

I kept waiting for the ideal time to take the first step and to escape my self imposed “gilded cage”. At that time I did not realise that neglecting my inner self, my wishes, objectives and visions over a long period of time would influence my mental state and cause a burnout, extreme tiredness or what ever term you would like to use.

This was the trigger for me to finally take the courage and leave my comfort zone in order to further my development and explore my visions. I wanted, needed to get my courage back, to tap into my energy zone, to make the first step, followed by the next to get where I wanted to be. Most of all, taking the courage to examine myself, to find out who I am and to discover my values was a most amazing experience.

In life, we become the person we are through our experiences. Looking back I would not want to miss out on any of my experiences. They were necessary in order to make me the person I am today and to help me reach the place in where I want to be. Extraordinary things happen only in the courage and energy zone. This is my strong belief. Take the courage to move forward sooner rather than later – this will give you the energy to continue taking steps forwards, to progress.