Some say bravery, I say destiny

I saw a tweet this morning about trying new things and it got me thinking. People keep saying to me that I'm brave. It actually kinda annoys me when people say it to me. I don't feel brave at all. The people that really know me can attest that me moving to Israel is not shocking to them. It's totally something I would do. Like I said in a previous post, I've grown a lot in the past 3 years and part of that growth was to embrace the true spirit of me. I'm adventurous and I'm inquisitive and I have a desire to learn and see the world. Now short of doing something quite obviously dangerous I will try things that excite me or appeal to me. There's no time to get caught up in what everyone else wants for you and how other people live their life because they aren't you! Part of the beauty of being human is that we're all different. You're different for a reason, embrace it! Life is short, so you might as well enjoy every moment of it as much as you can. Make yourself happy, live your life to it's full potential.

To me moving here isn't brave at all. I had a desire to see this country, and found a feasible opportunity to do that while learning and developing educationally, along the path of my career interest. This feels more like destiny to me.

So why do so many people think I'm brave? Is it because they have an image of the war torn Middle East? Do they fear I'm not safe? I think in part some people do, but it's funny when I made the decision to move here I can honestly say that my safety never crossed my mind. I never feared for my life. Plus like I told my mom and aunt when they brought that up.... I can die anywhere. I'm no safer in Atlanta, or Nassau, than I am here. If this is where I'm meant to die there is nothing anyone can do to stop it from happening. Plus, look at it this way, if I do happen to die in Israel, I will die in the holiest place on Earth. My mother didn't find this funny, as you can imagine. But it's true there are countless ways I may die, and I have no idea how and when it's going to happen, short of being suicidal and doing it myself. (Which I'm not) So if I live my life fearing that there is a potential I may die aside from playing Russian Roulette, Bungee Jumping, popping pills/taking a bunch of unnecessary drugs (illegal or otherwise), having unprotected sex or any other overtly RECKLESS activities, then what's left for me to do? That's not to say I have no fear, I do. There are plenty of things that scare me, but I try not to let fear prevent me from living my life.

Or is that I'm brave because people admire that I am able to follow my dreams and live my life without limited restraints? This could be a part of it too. I can actually understand this view point. When I was working at Deloitte, I had friends that I'd grown up with and stuff posting on Facebook about all of these fabulous trips/adventures they were going on and I'd be so jealous. I couldn't believe that instead of working a traditional corporate job or an office job with dreams of making large amounts of money; they were trekking around the world. How awesome? I wanted to do that, but I was too shit scared to do anything that ballsy because I'd always thought you graduate college, you get a fancy job, work hard, make lots of money and that was success. That's what was supposed to make me happy. Well it wasn't. None of that made me happy at all and every aspect of my life suffered. Relationships, health (physical and mental), life in general was not fully satisfying.

I firmly believe that a big part of the 20s is for self discovery. All of my older friends seem to agree that you change a lot in your 20s and you are really trying to learn who you are in this phase of your life. Well part of learning is trying things and learning from them. So I tried the corporate route, it worked for a bit, but eventually I realized it wasn't for me and I needed to find something more fulfilling that would make me happier. I did that, went back to school and now at 26, I'm working on my 2nd career. Still not entirely sure of the end point but so far this path feels good. I am definitely happier! I am healthier, no more high blood pressure meds, I eat better and most importantly I FEEL better! I have no regrets. I have learned from it all and will continue to. I will most likely make more mistakes along the way, but that's all part of the learning curve.

I have a new definition for success now, "There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way". So maybe this is what some call bravery I guess. I truly hope that we all come to this point in our life, before it's too late, and we really start to LIVE! Live everyday for you and do the things that make you happy, do things that matter to you, love those who love you and forget about the rest. I was reasssured in this belief when one of my childhood friends Talei suddenly died in a car accident on one of her many adventures a few months ago. She was an adventurous person to her core, one of those people I was so jealous of. When I say she was one of the most genuinely free-spirited, intelligent and positive people I know I mean it. Since her death every person that's met her only confirms this. Everybody was positively changed in some way for knowing her and for me it confirmed that it's time to live for me, because any day can be my last and I don't want to regret not doing the things I wanted to because I was too afraid to step out and try.

So maybe I am brave depending on your definition of bravery. I think being brave is the many service men/women laying their life on the line fighting for our safety everyday around the world, the policemen and firefighters that risk their lives to save others. To me they are brave. The many millions of people that fight cancer and a multitude of debilitating and life-threatening diseases every day are brave. But we all define bravery differently. I believe this journey is destiny for me and if my "bravery" can be an inspiration to anyone that meets me or reads my blog or hears about my journey from one of my friends and somehow changes a life for the better then I'm happy.

Embrace change and adventure. Be open to learning and experiencing new things, new people, new foods, new places. Live life! Try something new!