Latest / Repossible / re469: I'm Scared--and That's a Good Thing
Transcript
- 0:01Why would I leave such a place?
- 0:04Why would I leave such a little paradise and go somewhere like that where it's scary?
- 0:15Hey, I'm Bradley Charbonneau's Thursday Thunder. I'm here every single Thursday recording something hopefully witty, potentially funny, maybe entertaining, maybe a little educating, maybe a little inspiring.
- 0:28And here we go. Today it's another sort of metaphor here. This is where I'm staying. I am in outside of Otranto, which sounds like Toronto, but it's very far from Toronto and it's Otranto, Otranto in southern Italy.
- 0:47We're on a two week little mission here and a little bit of a secret, but not anymore because I'm telling you, but we are potentially gonna move to Italy next year.
- 0:59And honestly, a little scared.
- 1:03Hmm. So why am I doing this?
- 1:07Why? When I. Here's my story, here's my metaphor. I love metaphors because people understand story. They understand, oh, it's like this.
- 1:16So here, nice looking hotel thing. And if you know me, you know, I don't often stay in really nice hotels. I'm really much more about like this.
- 1:27I'm a rugged, kind of fun loving, kind of don't spend a lot of money on crazy stuff kind of guy. But it's our last few days. My wife splurged and we're staying in this nice place, right?
- 1:38So why am I telling you? Why do you care?
- 1:41Here we go.
- 1:43Why would I go out this gate?
- 1:46Why take the adventure? Why go beyond the comfortable?
- 1:51Because this over here, that's comfortable.
- 1:55I could just stay there and everything will be easy. And I don't have to change.
- 2:01I don't have to do anything really. I think I can just lounge by the pool.
- 2:07This is not who I am. And I'm wondering if that's who you are.
- 2:12Now don't get me wrong, I love lounging by the pool. We spent a lot of time in the ocean this week. Ocean, sea, whatever it's called, the water this week. And I'm not such a hang out of the water kind of guy, but it's so hot here that it was really nice.
- 2:30So I am leaving the grounds of said beautiful hotel and I'm heading out into the unknown.
- 2:41Why is this relevant? Why is this important?
- 2:44Because this, this is where the change happens when it's a little scary.
- 2:49And I, I have to admit if, if you follow me at all, then you'll know I, I've changed a lot. I've done a lot of scary things and yet they're still scary.
- 3:00You Know, they talk about being on stage, and I'm on stage a lot, and people say, oh, when do you ever, like, not get nervous anymore?
- 3:06I know the answer. It's on my calendar. And that answer is never.
- 3:10That's when I'm not nervous anymore or scared. And yet I'm kind of scared about this whole move to Italy thing. And why?
- 3:19Part of it, because I am currently comfortable, and I use this word quite suggestively and quite deliberately.
- 3:29I have a chapter in my book every single day called the Conundrum of Comfortable.
- 3:36And I think if you're okay, things are all right. Things are, you know, things are fine, right? Things are fine. It's fine. It's fine. Then why change, right? Why do something scary? I'm. I'm, I'm leaving the pearly gates of the pretty hotel.
- 3:57Why? Why should I do that?
- 3:59Why change?
- 4:01And I, as you know, or you might know, I write a lot about cats and.
- 4:07Okay, is that a hyena? I'm going to zoom in.
- 4:13I don't think it's a hyena. If that thing, like, turned its head, I would be running for the hills. It seriously looks like a hyena.
- 4:21See? See what's happening? I am making up fears that aren't there. Tell me that's not a hyena. I am making up fears. Maybe it's a zebra.
- 4:32I'm.
- 4:33There are no zebra or hyenas in southern Italy. I am pretty sure.
- 4:38And yet here I am, I'm making up fears that don't exist.
- 4:44Sound familiar?
- 4:46Why are we talking about this? Bradley, Tell me. Get to the point here. The Conundrum of comfortable.
- 4:53I'm comfortable in the Netherlands. I like it there. Things are easy. I know where everything is. It works. It's organized.
- 5:02It's Northern European.
- 5:05And yet there are exterior forces at play. There are third party interested parties.
- 5:14My kids are moving out.
- 5:16I'm ready for the next change. We live in this small town that's been great for, like, the kids in the school and all that stuff, but I'm done. I'm like, ready for the next adventure. However, the momentum it takes to make that next adventure happen is going to take getting over some fear, getting over challenges and fears of the unknown. Remember, look how far I am from the gates. Pretty scary, right? And think of this, of your life, right? Let's say that is, we sell our house.
- 5:48We sell our house, there ain't no going back, right? I can just walk right back to that gate right now.
- 5:54But what if he just kept going and this is scary. I'm not denying that it's scary. It is scary, and yet I'm gonna do it anyway. And why?
- 6:06Because I know from experience that the good stuff comes when you overcome the fear.
- 6:13And in fact, even the wording, right, overcome fear. Do I really overcome the fear, or am I just sort of sideswiping the fear? Am I just sort of moving alongside the fear? I don't know, but I'm addressing the fear. I'm admitting the fear. I'm scared. It's a big thing.
- 6:33Southern Italy. I mean, if you're American, like, I'm an American passport. If you're considering, like, what about the visa issue? I have a Dutch passport, so that solves a lot of the problems, a lot of the challenges, I should say. I have a Dutch passport, so yay.
- 6:49So that makes things a lot easier. But still, that's one reason we're down here, is we're sort of shopping around towns and where would we live and what are we going to do? And you know, another, somebody asked me on Facebook, they said, are you. Is this a permanent move?
- 7:03And I can tell you right now, I hope nothing I ever do again is permanent move.
- 7:08I like moving. I like not knowing where I'm going to be next. That's fun for me.
- 7:13I know I'm. That may be different. I know my. My parents lived in the same house for 50 years.
- 7:19And that's great. That's great. There are so many advantages to staying in the same place. You get your friends and your family and your life is easy, right? There's so many advantages. I mean, friends and family and, you know, when I leave, I am leaving friends and family.
- 7:37So that's a downside. Absolutely.
- 7:39But for me, my priority is thus that I want adventure over the upsides of staying.
- 7:48That's how I look at it. So when does the upside of the potential fear and potential new life ahead overcome the.
- 8:01The comfortable.
- 8:04The comfortableness of the current state?
- 8:08Right. So when it's like a mathematical equation.
- 8:11If I wanted the comfort of the current situation more than I wanted the potential dis. Ease and the uncomfortable. Uncomfortableness.
- 8:29Not sure that's a word of the new thing, then I wouldn't do it.
- 8:36And yet there, therein lies the mathematical equation. I'm going to do the thing because I. I think that the potential payoff is greater than the risk.
- 8:49I've been. I've been playing with the stock market again recently, and it's all the same thing, right? Or even betting. I mean, stock market's a little bit like Vegas, right?
- 8:59There's definitely risk involved. So there's a risk involved in what I'm doing and the adventure that I am undertaking. And I am not, not scared.
- 9:12Here I am. I ventured away.
- 9:15I can still see the thing where I came from. I can see the comfortable.
- 9:20And yet I ventured away. And I'm on taking the first steps towards my new future.
- 9:28What do you think?
- 9:29What do you think of my little story? How does this apply to you? Where are you in your conundrum of comfortable? Do you even have a conundrum of comfortable? Maybe you. Maybe you're not comfortable with where you are in a way. Maybe that's a little easier even. Like, what if you absolutely hate what's going on and you want to change it?
- 9:46All right, I got it.
- 9:49Hey, I like to keep these under 10 minutes, and I am about at that limit. So let me know in the comments what you think. What's your conundrum of comfortable? Signing off from Southern Italy. See you next time.