The fear of the unknown

Change is something that is part of life, some people are more open to change, some people don’t really like change and prefer to stick with what they are comfortable with. I would consider myself a bit of both, sometimes I like to change and get out of my comfort zone, but I don’t like extreme change such as moving countries.

Even though I don’t like having to experience big changes I’ve moved countries 4 different times. I was born in Colombia then moved to Brazil then moved to Peru then relocated back to Brazil and then came back to Peru where I am today. I don’t like extreme changes because adaptation can be hard sometimes, and especially when you are going to a new place with new people. The fear of the unknown can be very terrifying.

The time where change hurt me the most, was the time I moved from Brazil to Peru for the second time, mostly because I was already older and had more understanding of the situation. In Brazil I already had many friends, I loved the school, was in a very good soccer team, lived in a huge condominium with all of my school friends. Life seemed perfect. Then one day my parents told me the news that we were going to move back to Peru because of my mom’s work, and that I was going to a new school. I can clearly remember how devastated I felt. I can also remember the frustration inside of me towards my parents because the last thing I wanted to do was leave all of the great things I had behind.

The reason I was so resistant to change was fear. I had many constant thoughts of how things could go wrong, and I created false scenarios in my head of me not being able to adapt and not having any friends.

As I mentioned before, the fear of the unknown can really get to your head and make you overthink a lot; sometimes it can get overwhelming, but if you never get out of your comfort zone and never want to change and have new opportunities, you are only hurting yourself. There might be new opportunities that at the moment don’t seem very convincing, but in the long-term, they will be great opportunities. For example in my case, I never wanted to leave all of the good things I had in Brazil, but now that I’m here in Peru and that I have already adapted and have good friends and in a great school, if my parents told me that we are moving countries, I would feel the exact same way as when they told me this before. I wouldn’t want to leave all of the great things I have here. On the other hand, I would also already have on my mind that I should try and be as optimistic as possible because I learned from first-hand experience that change can bring great things.

If you don’t give new things a try, you might regret the opportunities you didn’t take.