Ever found your internal dialogue preempted with ‘If only I had….? A futile lament of course for we make our decisions based purely on the knowledge we have at hand at that point in time. I’ve had many of those internal conversations but one thing’s for sure, I don’t want to be lying on my death bed reciting that exact same lament. Nope! I want to be looking back on a rich, rewarding, satisfying life with every box of my personal mantra…to live, laugh, love, learn and leave a legacy* …well and truly ticked. Having said that, stepping outside of one’s comfort zone often requires huge leaps of faith coupled with a studious effort to ignore the inevitable ‘what if’s’. A six month sabbatical in a foreign country to fulfill a long held dream? Absolutely gargantuan leaps!

At scarily daunting times such as these I draw on a bottomless well of pertinent and at times poignant quotes, collected over the years and selected according to circumstance. My beloved quotes shore up fears, reinforce convictions and often become mantras, an all time favorite being ‘Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore” (Andre Gide) Fitting don’t you think? Let me share a few very special quotes that are driving and reinforcing my current journey as well as an arsenal of additional quotes I absolutely adore and that just may inspire or reinforce your own plans for avoiding those ‘if onlys’. I would love to hear yours too!

* thank you to Stephen Covey for providing the foundations of my mantra way back in 1998, ASTD Conference, Orlando, Florida, USA