Achieving your goal - one step at a time (The Everest example)

I am rather fortunate to live close to the shopping malls and the CBD. As a matter of fact, it would just take me about 8 minutes to get there. However, since the place where I am staying is rather hilly, it is quite a challenge to climb the rather steep slope. Each time when I looked up, I would feel aches in my legs and my breathing will become faster. In other words, I was already tired before I make that climb.

One day, it occurred to me that this is more psychological than physical. I was reminded of an interview with one of the mountaineers that climbed Mount Everest. When asked whether he felt tired and exhausted before reaching the top, he said, “Most definitely. However it is more of thinking how am I going to reach the top rather than the actual climb itself that made me exhausted”. So, what did the mountaineer do? He decided to take one step at a time. He focused his thoughts and concentration on every step he take without looking up.  He avoided looking at the peak. Because whenever he looked at the peak, he will start feeling tired and it looks like it is going to take him forever to reach the peak. So, with that philosophy in mind, I did just that. I looked at the path leading up to the top of the slope. I focused my thoughts on every step I take and avoided looking up. Suddenly it felt that the climb was easy and comfortable. I suppose this has got to do with how we live our life. We focus on what we have today and slowly make that climb towards our ultimate goal.

Moving away from your "comfort zone"

Whenever someone moves to a new country, the person tends to bring a lot of things from the home country. The main reason is to have a sense of familiarity and to avoid being homesick. Some people would bring their favourite food (subject to Customs and Quarantine's clearance), their favourite pillow, their favourite ornament(s) and of course, photos to remind them of their former home. The question is does it help to have familiar things around you when you are suppose to settle in by adjusting to your new life in a new country?

There are two school of thoughts on this issue. One says that it is good to have things that you are comfortable and familiar with to be around you. In other words, it will be easier for you to settle into the new country as you will not miss your former homeland too much. The second school of thought says it is not a good idea. By having familiar things around you, you will be put into your comfort zone. Once you are too comfortable, you will find it challenging to move out of that zone. If you don’t move out from that zone, you can’t move on with you life. In other words, you are not able to adapt yourself to the new country and to the new culture. You will always tend to stick with people from your home country and miss out on a lot of important things around you that you are too blinded to see.

If you are put under the circumstances of moving to a new country, which school of thought would you say that you fall under? As for me, when moving to Sydney, I brought only the essential things such as books that I will need, pots and pans, a piano and things which I need but can’t find or just too expensive in Sydney. As for food, I brought only enough to satisfy my taste bud in the event that I miss the spicy stuff. You see, before I left Malaysia, I was more inclined to follow the first school of thought. When I arrived in Australia, I began to realise that I will not be able to settle in if I hold on to my comfort zone and not move out of it. For who knows, I might actually like what is outside of my comfort zone. I also realised that I will not be able to fit into the society here in Sydney if I hold on to what I am comfortable with back in Malaysia. So, the key here is learning to adapt and keep an open mind. The second key is to observe your surrounding. Observe by watching and listening to the local people around you. Your visual and auditory skills are important here. This is to place you into their system of doing things -ie: what is acceptable and how to get things done effectively in this new environment. Once you get into the system in which the society functions in your new environment, you will find your comfort zone start expanding and that is a good thing. I am still learning and will share new things along the way with you. Until then........