(From ask Nico Series: “What is your best advice for someone who hears the call to leave the system but is still afraid to leave the job, the money, maybe the family, I feel the call to follow my soul’s path but I feel I cannot drop everything and everyone and live.”)

1. There’s discomfort at both ends of the equation:
   Choose what discomfort is worth it.
   
   There’s gonna be discomfort whatever you choose to do.
   
   If you want to leave the system (Which i’m assuming means to quit your job and do something that your family probably judges and will pay you less at least in the short term.)
   
   It’s going to be very difficult and uncomfortable, there’s going to be a lot of tension, there’s going to be a lot of frustration out of confusion perhaps, especially if there’s nobody guiding you on the other hand.
   
   Staying the same means that you’re not following the path that you feel your soul is calling you into – first, accept that there’s gonna be discomfort, no matter what.
   
   If you want a solution where you’re guaranteed the best of the best without your discomfort then you’re just deluded, it’s never gonna happen and you’re going to judge yourself for what you do or what you don’t do.
   
   
2. Following your soul’s path:
   It looks different for everybody, i could tell you what worked for me but it may not work for you.
   
   I realized that quite often, especially in the past, life would set my life on fire so i would have to make changes.
   
   This looked as in the ending of a really beautiful relationship, suddenly it collapsed into a lot of ugliness and pain, I didn’t know who I was and I had to change, i had to quit things.
   
   It would look like my businesses were dying, things happening overnight where I had to change careers or I had to choose something else to do for ink.
   
   That for me had been the way in which I functioned, high risk, strong intensity, high speed of change in transformation.
   
   It’s not the only way, there are people for whom risk is something that is a lot harder to manage so therefore they start taking 1-3 hours every day after work to do the thing they love – until they start earning a little bit of money, just enough so they can quit the other thing and dive fully into this.
   
   Everyone’s risk aversion is different, maybe you need a little lower transition, if it makes sense to you, however, i’m willing to bet that your soul’s path or that other thing that you want to do – you’re not even putting 2 hours per day on it.
   
   Most people that ask this question are thinking that if they had the time they would be doing something else, but it’s not true, if that something else were calling you in a deep and profound way you’ll find ways to do it, no matter what.
   
   I found ways to do what I loved after tattooing for 12 hours and back in the day working 15 hour days, then being exhausted, not having had food.
   
   Then i would sit down and write, get on a call and coach somebody, try and create content, spend a few hours trying to do work that felt meaningful.
   
   At the same time I had times when I thought if only I had more time i would be doing so much more, suddenly, I had more time and I was watching movies and wasting my money on things, experiences, activities that were not useful.
   
   Your soul’s path is not something that’s going to happen, if there’s something that you can already tap into right now, assuming your soul’s path is something you want to do (Your soul’s journey is everywhere) the spiritual journey it’s not about what you do but how you do it.
   
   That’s the most important thing – you can still do the job that you’re doing right now with admost love and devotion, dedication, that’s gonna free your soul.
   
   You can do the thing that you love, that you think it’s going to change things for you without interest, without being present, you’re just trading different workspaces.
   
   
3. About your family:
   Not all families are supportive, i get it. But it’s your life, let them complain, let your joy be the way in which you prove them wrong.
   
   Let your aliveness be the way in which you show them that you made the right decision.
   
   Nobody knows you better than you do, never delay what is important for you because of others opinions, because of money…
   
   Figure out how much risk are you willing to take, are you going to take a profound leap of faith and quit things, start anew?
   
   Or are you okay with the middle ground? Do you have the discipline to manage both things as you can transition?
   
   Understand that whatever path you choose, the discomfort is going to be present, if you want to follow something else in hopes that it will not be uncomfortable…
   
   Let me tell you that you’ll be surprised and dissapointed when you find out that doing the thing that you love requires the same amount of tension, stress, challenge than whatever you’re doing right now.
   
   The quality of our mind comes from within the enviroment, sometimes helps, but very little.