Sometimes pursuing the life you want means making some significant changes in some aspects of your life, whether it is your job, relationships, place, or anything else. In theory, change can seem like a great idea, but in reality, it is not always that clear. You could be unlocking your own personal Pandora’s Box as you make a change in your life.

Change comes with the fear of the unknown. You might ask yourself how will the change affect you; both psychologically and emotionally, and will the people around you change too. Life is unpredictable and you can never know the direction a shift can take; it may not be the one you wanted. It is a difficult process. But, what if you succeed and that is not the change you genuinely wanted? I believe in the Unintended Consequences theory. Nobody can predict how your life is going to turn after you change it; not even your family, friends, a psychotherapist, or a psychic.

A wise man once said, ‘’You do or you do not. There is no try.’’ However, those simple and profound words were not used by Aristotle or Socrates; the real thinker was Yoda, the Jedi Master of Star Wars (in other words George Lucas).

It all comes down to one thing; If you honestly want to change your life, you need to take a leap of faith.

I always use an example from the Indiana Jones franchise. In The Last Crusade, Jones is searching for the Holy Grail (a suitable metaphor, isn’t it?). He follows a map that leads him to a dangerous path toward the Holy Grail. At the end of his journey, he arrives to a chasm that seems to be bottomless, across from which is the entrance to the Holy Grail. There is no obvious bridge over the gap, but the map shows a man approaching the void and taking a leap of faith that would allow Jones to cross the void. Testing his confidence, Jones takes the leap of faith and discovers an invisible bridge he can walk over and capture the Holy Grail.

Jones had the courage to choose the direction which led him to the Holy Grail, despite the terrible consequences if he made a mistake (plummeting to his death!). Likewise, you must always have the strength of your determination to take the essential leap of faith to find your Holy Grail (especially when you understand that your worst-case scenario is not even close to that faced by Indiana Jones, although it was only a film).

The beginning of the leap of faith comes with the belief that you don’t want to follow the path that your current life has led you to any longer, that your life is clearly not working for you anymore. The leap of faith can only continue with faith that will make a change in your life. It requires maintaining a basic trust in yourself and a genuine hope in the idea of who, what and where in the future you want to be. The leap of faith includes a conviction that when you want to change your life, positive things will happen. Understand also that certain doubts are a natural part of the process — you can never be 100 percent certain things are going to turn out the way you want — if you have no concerns, a leap of faith wouldn’t be needed.

Imagine how wonderful it would be to find what you are looking for. In other words, dreaming about the new life that you want is something that you should regularly do. The leap of faith will then activate an optimistic upward spiral that will turn it into a growing conviction. A conviction that you have the ability to change your life in a positive way.

You will have to realize that this leap of faith is not the same as blind faith. Instead, you have a wealth of abilities and knowledge that you will muster to transform your future. Hopefully, you do have other resources to support your efforts and progress – family, colleagues and other types of help.