Don't think, just act...

Sometimes, in life, you are presented with a choice. That choice will have effects down the road; for good, for bad, or maybe even some of both. The moment comes when you have to make that choice and even if you know it is coming, you cannot be prepared for it.

From the outside it may seem like a binary event. One or zero, all or nothing, yes or no. But if you really understand the choice you are making, you realize that there are so many more dimensions than that. Saying yes for the wrong reason could be a terrible thing, and saying no just because you are afraid to say yes is just as bad.

The option for postponement is there. You can say "not now" and then have the option of saying yes at a later date, but it won't be the same. Knowing yourself, and trusting your feeling and going for it all and saying yes right up front means so much more than waiting yourself out till you feel safe and then saying yes.

The choices that truly define who we are, are the ones where the answer isn't clear when the choice is made. You may be able to re-evaluate a choice in hind sight and congratulate yourself on a good decision, but the truth is, at the time you said yes or no, you had no idea what you were doing for sure. You knew the options, were aware of the ramifications, and had a gut feeling. There was no way to think it through, you had to take a risk. And, that risk defines you just as much as the consequences of the choice that may not be felt for long long time.

I am who I am because of the risks I have taken. Some of them have been good, some have been bad. But, I wouldn't take them back. Would you relive a terrible moment of your life knowing that if you did things differently you might be able to avoid some pain or difficulty but that you would never become the person you are right now? I am the sum of every pat on the back and every punch in the stomach I have ever received. I know of joys that I will never be able to put into words, and deep inside me there are buried pains that should never again see the light of day.

To know me is the know how the consequences of my choices have effected my life. But to understand me is to know the motivation behind those choices.