Beyond the initial fear

When I first joined HABS, in 2008, I didn't like it one bit. Having previously studied at a mixed comprehensive school in the outskirts of Aberdeen, I considered the need to wear a uniform coercion and the absence of girls very archaic.

More importantly, I missed my friends in Aberdeen and I felt incredibly uncomfortable in my new surroundings. Moreover, every person in my year, at the time, was so small! An onlooker would have viewed me as a tall, detached Persian boy with a very heavy Scottish accent, trying to find his way to his physics class.

That said, going to HABS turned out to be one of the best decisions in my life; I had the privilege of receiving a first class education whilst simultaneously forming relationships with fellow students and teachers that will last me a lifetime.

Yet, looking back on the experience now, it all seemed somewhat weird and confusing at the start. This is the case with almost any significant change in one's life. However, the initial fear and the difficulty of settling in serve only to disguise the extent of the long-term benefit of that change.

You might find yourself changing schools, starting university or a new job, and, as some of my close friends have done, moving abroad to study. At first, it will be hard. The new atmosphere will be unfamiliar, the new people you are with will be unfamiliar, and the whole new experience will be, wait for it, very unfamiliar.

Businesses face the same problem as ordinary people do. When evaluating the decision of whether to join a new market, potential entrants consider possible ways to overcome the high barriers to entry. It takes time for a business to gain a satisfactory level of market share to establish itself among the incumbents.

Here's the crucial message: do not allow the prospect of initial fear and discomfort prevent you from taking risks and making unconventional choices that may benefit you more than those in line with the status quo.

This kind of fear is temporary; my initial fear in joining HABS certainly was, and as a believer in Darwinian evolution, I am convinced that everything will fall into place given the appropriate amount of time.

Many of the extraordinary developments in one's life, and those in the wider world, arise from these significant changes in circumstance. The price we pay for these developments is short-term pain, uncertainty, and discomfort. Considering what we are getting in return in most cases, I think that deal is a bargain. Don't you?