Article by: Niña Cudal

Visuals by: Enya Cruz

It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, especially in our daily routines.

Most days, we feel as though we’re on autopilot. We turn on our devices on impulse, consume content like our lives depended on it, and sleep in the wee hours of the morning. Despite the safety and convenience that routines provide us, don’t we all dream of breaking free?

We often think that the biggest changes in our lives have to be big and dramatic, like choosing a different career path, relocating to a different place, or even upending our whole lives. But, in reality, it can be as simple as changing one’s mindset. Saying yes can mean all the difference when we look back at our lives.

Sometimes we procrastinate our own dreams. Some think that delaying them means you’re also delaying your failure. But, as cliche as it may sound, our lives are a collection of our experiences—both the good and the bad. It’s important to take the first step. Whether you start small or start slowly, what matters is that you started. Today.

Despite our fears and reservations, we are the masters of our fate. We create our destiny. We nourish our ideas. Nothing happens without the birth of an idea—and some ideas can take on a life of their own.

But an idea has to have courage for it to come true: courage to risk the convenience we enjoy, courage to go over our limits, courage to be the person we want to be. Most of the time, this means leaving our comfort zones and entering a state of metamorphosis, transitioning from one state to another. Nothing worth having comes along easily, right?

There’s a famous quote that says, “When you’re scared to jump in the pool, that’s when you jump.”

So jump in. The water’s fine.