You already know what you want

Despite what people think, making decisions is easy. We do it every single day, every hour, every minute. There are actually few things in life that we have more practice at doing. Before you scoff and argue that little decisions are different than big decisions, let me point out that there are no little decisions.

Choosing when to get up in the morning effects the course of your day: whether you're rushed or whether you have ample time. Brushing your teeth or not could seem like a small decision... unless today is the day you meet your soul mate. Stopping for coffee? Tying your shoes? Chatting up the person behind the counter at Starbucks? All these things have the potential to change the course of your life.

So there are no little decisions. The ones that feel big only seem that way because we have a clearer sense of the consequences. Because you don't know whether tying your shoes will mean the difference between catching your train or being late for work, you don't think about it. But when faced with a decision where you know the possible outcomes, we freeze.

They say ignorance is bliss and I believe it. There is nothing quite like a little information for inducing stomach-churning doubt. And it's only a little information. Because while we may have some idea of the outcome of our decision... we can't see the outcome of this... leading to what?... carrying on to there. We can't see far enough into the future to remove all doubt. 

The hardest decision to face is when the two possible outcomes are equally positive. When one option is safe and the other is risky or if you can foresee a negative then you have no problem. In fact, you probably wouldn't even consider the negative to be a decision. Why on earth would you chose to pursue a negative? (It was a decision but don't worry about it.) When once choice is safe and the other is a risk the dilemma exists because people want to take the risk but they're afraid. That's not a decision making problem: that's a courage problem. But when both options seem equally desirable and you can only have one: people panic. 

Because despite the fact that people say you can always start over, the truth is that you can't go back. Every moment changes you just a little. So even if you try and reclaim the untried option it won't be the same because you're not the same. This seems like an apt time to quote Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken." 

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bend in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.

Poems like this are why Robert Frost is remembered long after his death and I just blog to clear my thoughts. 

In any case, we tell ourselves we'll try the other option later but that is just a method for quieting the last voice of doubt: because we know we won't. Life carries on at a breakneck pace and if you have the time to go back and take the other road than, frankly, you need to get busy living a life that runs away with you. But that's a blog for another day.

The secret to making decisions is to remind yourself that you're good at it. If you're reading this I'm reasonably sure that you managed to feed yourself this morning, you have clothes to put on, people in your life that love you, friends you can call on, dreams you hope to pursue (and yes, I'm primarily basing this on the fact that you have access to a computer and therefore fall into a certain economic bracket) and all those things in your life are products of decisions that you've made.

So trust yourself. You know the road you want to take. It's already there in your mind. The doubt you feel is the discomfort of the unknown. But don't kid yourself: it's all unknown. Unless you're flirting with the criminal underworld, there's no right or wrong here. Both options have equal potential for disaster or success. Just like every other moment of your life, how things turn out will be influenced by your actions in those moments and not the single decision you made in the past. 

Close your eyes, pretend you don't have any knowledge of the outcomes, and make your choice...

Health at Zero: Waiting to Respawn

It was bound to happen. I'm just surprised it took this long. But I've finally come down sick. My throat is sore and I'm running a mild fever. And of course all this the day before a final exam. If that wasn't enough, I spent the whole day drinking tea for my sore throat that turned out to contain an allergen that gave me a migraine!

I spent a large portion of the day napping off my migraine. I definitely did the reading that I needed to do but I can't say the information really stuck. To be completely honest, I pretty much just skimmed between closing my eyes. It's the kind of situation that could give you an ulcer. I know a lot of people in my University that would come unglued. But I'm learning a lot about life, the way things happen, and how to deal.

The fact of the matter is: there is nothing I can do about this. The body breaks down. After four months of managing full time school, part time work, and the rest of my life, I finally ran out of stamina. It's like my little health bar ran down and there's no health pack in sight. I suppose I could spend my time adding to the situation by piling on the mental stress: I'm going to fail the exam! How can I succeed if I can't study? This is terrible! This is going to ruin my grade, my GPA, and possibly my life!

But the truth is that spending the day healing is probably better for me anyways. I have time tomorrow morning to review the material and fill in any gaps that occurred in my migraine impacted brain. Whatever grade I get will be better than nothing at all, my other classes will balance out my GPA and I'm only in my second year of uni. My life is far from ruined.

It has been a very long journey for me to arrive at this place, mentally speaking. It's such a cliche for someone to tell you, "Just let it go". But if you can learn how to do it, life becomes so much better. It isn't that consequences do not occur nor that pain does not have an impact. It's just that if you can remember that it won't be permanent... that eventually something new will come along... if you can learn to be excited about the Possibilities you don't even know about... suddenly stressors just become potholes in the journey of life rather than roadblocks!

Instead of stopping short, just bounce your way across the rough and keep on going. Maybe it's lessons I've learned from video games. But when things are dire, you can always wait until you respawn and try again. Of course, in games you get to replay the exact same level until you can do it perfectly and in life you have play a new level every single day. But if you don't let the unexpected derail you then you'll have that much more of a running start when you hit the ground on your next adventure.

And if you don't think that life is an adventure... you're not doing it right!

Don't look back: That's not where you're going

I told Him that I liked him. That's a huge deal for me. I've never chosen to pursue the possibility that something could happen. Until now, a crush has always meant I felt deeply awkward and uncomfortable around that person for as long as the crush lasted. And without ever dealing with it, those crushes lasted forever. But I never truly felt that someone could possibly requite my feelings.

And at least in this case, that's still how it is. But I learned something valuable. I have never been able to "turn a crush off" but the person you like can. When you open up about it, the crush goes away. It'll either morph into mutual attraction or fade out. The only way to keep it alive after that is if you refuse to let it go. I can't think of anything more unhealthy than banging your head against a door you know is never going to open.

But that doesn't mean there isn't a degree of pain involved. It's hard not to let a rejection of a moment become a rejection of yourself. Honestly, I'm not even sure what I would have done if He'd felt the same (that's never happened before) but that doesn't mean I wouldn't have loved to hear that. My confidence is generated internally. I like me a lot. But every once in a while, I have a moment of weakness, where I'd like to hear it from someone else.

But He isn't the someone. Let's be honest. It's not a really great idea. There are a lot of reasons why I never should have gone there in the first place. Frankly, it's easy to overlook bad ideas when they're packaged together with a dreamy pair of brown eyes. But I know logically that pursuing that would have been a bad idea. A rabbit trail away from where I want to go. Maybe even a major detour.

It's easy to tell myself this is for the best. It's a little harder to put it behind me and just move on. It's hard not to look for Him in the halls, wish for a text or a phone call, hope that maybe it's all a mistake and He's changed his mind. Because isn't that what the little Princess inside all of us secretly wants? We want the dramatic reversal that proves we're worth so much. That only happens in the movies and that's the only place where it works out.

Because I don't really want a dramatic reversal. I may want to hear that someone values me but I don't want to have to convince them. The right person will see it for themselves. I want to find someone who thinks my quirks are adorable. I want someone who encourages me to be myself because they're proud to know me: Someone who doesn't understand when people don't like me. I can't imagine wasting time with anything less than that. Rejection might sting a little but it doesn't hurt as much as pretending to be someone that you're not.

So I'm glad I told Him. Otherwise, I'd still be labouring under the tension of unresolved attraction. Instead, I am free to carry on with my life. I've had a bad couple of moments: doubting myself, acting a fool. But frankly, the process of working through rejection is far quicker than carrying a pointless crush around for years.

It just wasn't that bad and I would definitely do it again. I figure that two people being right for each other and actually figuring it out: teeny, tiny odds. But the odds are zero if you never ever try!

Recklessly Blown Away

Being careful is something that is deeply ingrained in us. It's one of the first lessons our parents teach us (often in a panic!) and the lesson only gets reinforced with time. Be careful when you cross the street. Be careful when you talk to strangers. Be careful when you fall in love. Be careful when you choose a career. Be careful with the baby. Be careful that you don't fall... Be careful...

I'm not advocating dangerous behaviour. Nor am I suggesting you should endanger your life or the lives of people around you. What I am suggesting is that perhaps being careful is not all that it's cracked up to be. Recently I've become more reckless. This is largely due to the fact that I'm exhausted from studying, working, and living, and I simply don't have any energy left into "caring".

I feel that caring, in this sense, should be defined. It's different than sparing a thought for a loved one's safety. It's different than passion for a hobby, sport, or interest. Caring, in the sense of "Be Careful", is to anticipate negative outcomes, let worry for that possible reality set in, and then act as if it has already happened.

So I don't have enough energy to "care"... to borrow troubles from an uncertain future and let that worry cloud the moment. But instead of finding myself in the throes of disaster, I find that my life feels free. Not caring, for me, has become the real version of living in the now. It's not that I'm unaware of the possible consequences of my actions. It's that, until such time as a consequence occurs, I will chose to live as if it hasn't happened yet. Worrying about something before it happens doesn't make things any easier when it comes time to actually deal. All worrying does is ruin the moment you're in.

I love this quote. The way it begins speaks to people who spend all their time caring. The fact that She is in the storm is adventure enough: good for her. And those people celebrate the fact that She did not blow away. Because they are being careful. Blown away is reckless... unpredictable... undesirable.

But what those people don't realize is: if She doesn't allow the wind to blow her away She will never discover new sights, new places, new thoughts... She might encounter calamity:

But then again... she might not.