So i was just reading Kim's blog, "middle of nowhere" and it got me thinking. A lot of people assume that they aren't in control of their lives, but the truth is that we make every decision for ourselves, with influences from other people at times (sadly). When we come to a crossroads in our lives, it is up to us to decide which way we go. If the path to our right promises security, but also gives boredom, and the path to our left promises adventure, but shows many possible risks, it is up to us to say which path we choose. There are sure to be consequences, but you always have to stop and ask yourself, is this worth it? Is this really what i want to do?
The good news is that there are many paths that are two way streets, with an oppurtunity to turn around when you want. The real decisions are those that place us at the beginning of a one-way street. So at these vital moments in our lives, we are forced to make the hardest choices and decisions, and it is these choices that make us who we are. if a person arrives at hte forementioned fork in the road, and if there is two copies of that person, if one goes to the left and one goes to the right, they will eventually turn into different people. Thats one thing about humans, we adapt to our surroundings. Say person A takes the right path and gets a job at Lexington Clinic, this person, however wild they might have been at one time, will soon be turned into, well an average joe. Person B however, who took the left path becomes an archeologist, well this person begins to travel all around the world and of course they change. So now there are two people, who were exactly alike, and they have turned into completely different individuals. What im saying is that the decisions in our lives affect us more than we know.
What bothers us humans so much is that we arent quite sure what our decisions will do to us. I mean, of course if you start drinking, then its pretty easy to guess that you might become an alcoholic. But what about those every day decisions? The smaller the decision, the smaller the consequences (at least most of the times). It is the questions about ourselves and who we truely are that are so difficult to answer. When we come to a fork in the road of life that says, for example, sports in college go right, or no sports in college go left, we have to answer that question, not really knowing for sure if we will regret what we will decide.
We dont know for sure, and we never will, if the choices we are making today are the right ones. Even if further down the road you run into some bumps because of the decision you made, you will never know if the other path had bumps, no bumps, or possibly even mountains. The only thing we can do is make our own maps, and not let anyone else make them for us. The decisions about what road to take have to be ours, and some of them will be dangerous, but if everything was guaranteed to be safe, then where is the fun in life?
