SETTLEMENT
| LIFE LESSONS |
Jump start
I
Sometimes all it takes is a leap of faith
’ve often heard of leaps of faith. When you just have to trust — your instincts, your destiny, the universe — that things will fall into place and work out for the best. It’s a nice romantic notion and the often-promised “happily ever after” is a tempting payoff. But when faced with the prospect of actually taking said jump, a sudden and paralyzing fear of gravity sets in. I was freelancing as a television editor on weekends and some evenings after an eight-hour day at my full-time job. The wheels in my head had started turning. I was just about ready to quit the job I wasn’t quite suited for in favour of occasional shifts at one I loved. While my own apprehension about the lack of stability that might follow was already overwhelming, the people surrounding me were chiming in with their own fears. With each “How will you pay the rent?” I began to let doubts scare me. With every “A paycheque is a paycheque,” I took two steps back. I decided to stick it out for a while longer. I have talked myself hoarse about approaching everything with a blind optimism — how positivity has given me the strength to achieve things I never dreamed of. And yet there I was letting fear get the best of me. And not even my own fear — but those of others who had completely separate life experiences from my own. Their reasons were based on their own struggles and insecurities. There was no reason to believe my life would have a similar outcome. Internalizing the anxieties of others had made me panic and clamber back onto stable
but otherwise barren land. Several longdistance phone calls followed. My wise and supportive mother and siblings talked me through some basic financial planning. In the meantime, the television station I worked freelance for came through with a promise of two months’ worth of shifts during the spring and summer seasons when the fulltime editors take their vacations. A sabbatical from my full-time job was not an option and so there I was, on the edge again, but this time I went for it. With a grand total of $1,000 in my bank, which included all available credit, I gave my two weeks’ notice. Combining a little bit of calculation, a whole lot of belief and a generous amount of bravado was all it took. Two months of freelancing turned into two years and the several wondrous opportunities that followed. All because I chose to go ahead and take that storied leap. Life lesson no. 6 — fear of the unknown may or may not protect you from failure. But it will most certainly keep you from success. You might as well jump. Indian-born Dilshad Burman came to Canada as an international student and is now the host of Omni Television’s V-Mix. She has plenty of life lessons to share with other young immigrants. See all her “Life Lessons” at canadianimmigrant.ca.
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34 canadianimmigrant.ca
September 2014
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