“You’ve got to do things that feel unnatural if you want to grow.” ~Jon Morrow   “You’re leaving, aren’t you?” my boss said. “Yes,” I nodded. “What do I have to pay you to make you stay?” he asked. I just stared at him. No words would come. “There’s nothing I can do, is there?” he said. More silence. But my inner voice was anything but silent. I was consumed with doubt and deafened by the bloody battle raging inside my head. On one side was caution, armed with the strong, fight-to-the-death breed of soldier. Her battalion was fuelled by countless victories over the dozens of glorious ideas that had fallen on their swords before. On the other side was courage, armed with nothing but hope and crazy determination. There was no battalion. Only a thin veneer of pluck. Courage won. Only just. I could have balked at any moment, backed down from my insane plan and taken the easy way out. I could have taken the lucrative job at one of London’s top investment banks that was being offered to me on a silver platter. But my gut screamed, “No, you’ve got to go! You’ll never find what you’re searching for if you stay.” Days later, as the plane touched down in the Russian capital, my breath caught in my throat. A lone, skinny, baby-faced blonde with a crazy notion to catch the train across Siberia. What the hell was I doing? Caution had stowed away in the recesses of my mind and now screamed in my ear. Was I mad? Probably. Was I terrified? Definitely. Was I excited? Out of my skin. Looking back, I believe courage won the battle that day because it was backed by my overwhelming desire for discovery. I wanted to discover the world and my rightful place in it. And the reason it won? Because I listened to my subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is the feeling mind. Its ancient roots are primitive, and it’s the home of emotions such as fear, anger, and desire. The subconscious is powerful and tireless. Within it, both my fears and desires became formidable forces. But desire was stronger. The subconscious’s nemesis, the conscious mind, driven by logic, reason, and foresight, showed its face in the battle that day as caution and attempted to derail my desire. But it’s a fundamental truth that whenever the two minds are in conflict, the subconscious always wins. Deep emotional feelings overpower reasoned thought every time. Deep inside my subconscious mind, I knew I was searching for something I could only find by pushing myself to my limits. I knew I’d never find it if I continued with my dreary job. I knew that if I’d not found it in my current life already, it wasn’t there. I knew I needed to look someplace else. I knew I had no choice but to go. So I went. Here’s what I discovered on my journey. Discovery #1: [...]