How I travelled to Brazil in the eye of a pandemic to play football while running a business

We often hear entrepreneurs complaining that they do not have enough time to do this and that, or that they wished they could do something, but they are too busy, business is difficult and so on. We live in turbulent times and planning ahead has been difficult, no doubt. Living in a pandemic, however, the very fact that one doesn’t know what will happen in the next 3-6 months, also gives you a sense of urgency. At least it did to me.

In January this year an idea was born in my head, an idea to make a dream of mine come true. It was something I had longed for since childhood and never thought I’d actually accomplish, namely going to Brazil. I have always had a passion for football since I was a little girl and Brazil, in my eyes, was a country where everybody loved football. Naturally I dreamed about going there, signing up to train for a football (footvolley) club on the beach, watching a football game at the Maracanã and perhaps even meeting a football star, who knows.

Fear is as powerful as you let it.

I had long stopped following the news for my own sake and for the sake of my mental health. Listening to the rising number of sick and dead from CORONAVIRUS didn’t do me any good, it only made me feel on edge. I had heard that Brazil was one of the countries that was suffering the biggest hit thanks to a new variant of the virus. I knew this was a bold and borderline crazy idea, flying to Brazil when people were dying, hospital beds were scarce and pretty much the whole world was in lockdown. ‘Now or never’ I thought.

Our minds have a mechanism that keeps us alive at unprecedented situations, it switches on survival mode that fills our bodies with fear and in this way protects us from danger (ref. 'Entrepreneur Revolution', D. Priestley, 2013 ). The moment I thought about the idea seriously, my mind kept throwing back at me dozens of reasons why I shouldn’t do it. I had a long list- business was going well, too well even, we were swamped with work, the pandemic being a major one too and the fact that I hadn’t had the virus yet unlike most of my friends and relatives, I didn’t speak the language, hardly knew anyone. My family was strictly against the idea because of all the risks involved too. Friends said I was bonkers for even considering it. Yet I was. Any logical reasoning was against the idea. And the more I thought about it, the more I could visualise it, make it look real. One day I woke up firmly decided and the first thing I did was to open my laptop and book a flight. There was no turning back. My brain was trying to switch on survival mode and kept making me doubt myself but deep inside I felt I was doing the right thing; I was following my heart.

So on the 13th February 2021 I boarded a flight to Amsterdam and another long-haul to Rio de Janeiro, cidade maravilhosa. Of course, I was afraid, I wasn’t sure where I was going, whether I won’t get sick and so forth … I had a medical insurance but that hardly was of any comfort if there were no hospital beds. It was slightly late to worry about that, I was flying above the Atlantic and my mind was lingering between the excitement of making a childhood dream come true and self-doubt. It is fascinating how we can come up with a million reasons why we shouldn’t do a particular thing or why an idea would fail. As humans we are incredibly creative at being negative, the unknown scares the living thing out of us.

What actually happened.

Fast-forwarding slightly, I did not get sick. And I did not fail my business, co-workers, family or friends, nobody for that matter. Quite the opposite, from the moment I landed in that amazing country my heart was filled with joy and passion, found a perfect balance between working and growing my business, while at the same time doing my favourite thing- playing footy on the beach, improving my athletic skills, meeting kind-hearted people and building friendships that somehow, I know, will last for life. My productivity was through the roof, I’d wake up at 5am with a smile on my face, go for a run and start my working day at 6 with a hot cup of Brazilian brew. I’d smash conference calls, tasks and still manage to even spend time studying for a business accelerator I had signed up for. The fact that I was making my dream come true enabled me to look at things differently, challenge ideas and get creative. I was on top of my game and felt happier than ever. I couldn’t believe that I once doubted one of the best decisions I had ever made.

Occasionally I did get some hexing messages from people following me on social media such as ‘you are so lucky’ or ‘when do you ever work, you are always on holiday’ but I did not let these get to me at all. I knew the amount of effort I had, and continued to, put in to make this possible and did not regret it for even a minute. I knew that if something was making me feel so truly happy it couldn’t have been a mistake.

Reflections.

Reflecting on this wonderful experience, reminiscing about the two months of pure joy spent in beautiful Rio, I can’t help but make an innocent reference to decisions we make in business. We are very often paralysed and numbed by survival-mode thinking, scared of failure or criticism from peers, mentors, family and friends, so we’d rather stay safe and comfortable until the storm is over. Until the next excuse comes round, an excuse that we will comfortably embrace and hide behind, telling ourselves that now is not a good time to try this new thing, or the market is too volatile to launch a new product or grow our business. Or that if we try we will fail, our business will go bust, we will look like fools in front of our families and friends, all fears that make us stay comfortable and safe in one place and not make any effort, or progress for that matter.

There is no better time than now. Embracing our fears and despite them, making the first step towards achieving our dreams, whether that is quitting a 9-5 job and starting a business, or booking a flight to the other end of the world to play football. It may sound crazy, irrational, people will give you a thousand reasons why you will not succeed, but it is ultimately a personal choice of whether to listen to them, your fears or what your heart truly desires. As entrepreneurs we all dream about that independence and flexibility, we say we want it but do we actually? The time to follow your heart, be bold and chase your dreams is either now… or probably never.