An article in a local publication that I was reading with my morning coffee the other day, got me thinking.
The concept of the column was that the decisions we make (whether they be big or small) change who we are and where we go in life.
This got me thinking about some of the decisions I have made and how they have shaped the person I have become over the past three decades.
When you are a child most, if not all, decisions are made for you. It’s not until you are in junior high or maybe even high school that you get to start making some of your own.
What if I hadn’t decided to apply for a journalism trip with Farm Credit Canada that allowed me to venture across the country and experience the life of a travelling journalist?
What if I had taken the opportunity to take the trip but decided I didn’t like it? Where would I be now? How different would my life be? Would it be better or worse?
What if I had decided to ignore my acceptance letter to Mount Royal College (now Mount Royal University) and go to a different school, maybe somewhere aboard?
Going to college in a different city or country would ensure that I would not have met, fell in love with and eventually married my wonderful husband.
Speaking of him, what if I had stuck to my original plan and left Calgary in 2007 for my last work term in Vernon, B.C. never to return to Alberta instead of coming home to be with my family and then-boyfriend? One thing is for sure, my life would be very different.
We make decisions every day (some of us make more than others). From what to wear in the morning or whether to stop for that coffee on the way to work to whether to say yes when someone pops to question or when to start a family.
Although those last two options are clearly a couple of life’s “big ones,” sometimes we make decisions without realizing how important or how much of an impact they can have.
What about the decision to smile at a stranger who is having a bad day that gives them the strength to keep going?
Or the decision to let the door shut in the face of the person behind you because you were in a hurry and couldn’t be bothered to hold it open? That choice could start a chain reaction of events that causes their day to spiral into a mess that leaves them feeling exhausted and depressed by the end of it.
Everything we do affects not only the future of our lives but those lives around us.
It’s a pretty big responsibility if you think about it.
But don’t get scared... You don’t have to over think the hundreds of consequences that could come from every choice you make in a day.
Be true to yourself and make the best decision you can for those you love.
There may be some you regret (like getting an extra, extra large coffee before being stuck in traffic on the way to work for two hours) but there will be many others that you will be thankful for, for the rest of your life (like coming “home” to those you love after four months away at a work term).
So please take the time to be kind to the person beside you on the bus. Pay for coffee for the person behind you at Tim Horton’s and share your smiles freely (even when you don’t feel like smiling).
I believe what you put out into the universe will come back to you.
