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LIVING AND LOVING IT: The right choices are many times painful ones
I am not one for spontaneity. Being spontaneous once in a while, is good, even fun. But just once in a while. Usually, I prefer to figure out everything out first, the timing, the expenses, the people involved, before I can then make a decision.
A chunk of the time, I am happy with the end result, a planned short holiday out of town, a well thought out decision on how to reward someone, or a carefully calculated day out with the little ones. But sometimes, I miss out on a fun event or an opportunity to do something I have been longing for, just because I am too busy planning for it.
I plan for ages, telling myself I need to do one thing or another, when all the marbles are in the right place, when I have finished the work on my desk (as if that will ever happen) or when I am very sure the girls at home will not mind me being away a little longer than usual (as if that will ever happen soon). As such, I have missed catching the movies I swore I would not miss. Pity.
Recently, I made the sudden and quick decision to pack my bags and dash out of the country for a bit to go visit the hubby. That is not like me, I assure you and I must admit that halfway through the preparations, I wondered if something was against my trip.
My plans kept going awry. I narrowly missed getting a seat on the bus, having come with the “wrong” ATM card to town and hence had to run around like a headless turkey (I wonder what that looks like) looking for some money before the bus offices closed. I had decided to take the girls to stay with their grandparents for the time I would be away. But getting there was a test in itself. A trip that usually takes me about 30 or so minutes with light traffic took me about two hours because I had forgotten important documents at my home and had to do double trips back and forth.
I usually inform the important people around us in case there is a change in schedule from our normal routine. This time round I forgot to inform half of the concerned parties, including the older girl’s lovely teachers. I forgot to put a (third) rain check on a date my girlfriends and I had been looking forward to. To say that I felt like the most unserious and scatterbrained woman around the town would be an understatement.
And yet I do not regret the decision to make this sudden trip. The running around might have been a hassle but the end result was pleasant.
This choice was not exactly a painful one and it definitely was a right one. But it got me thinking. There are times you have to get out of your comfort zone and make a tough choice, to do something that might be out of character or what you are not used to. Some choices might take seconds to make, but there are much harder ones, such as letting go of a close friend who is just toxic to your wellbeing, or quitting the job, however comfortable it is, that you know is no longer adding value to your life or career.
The right thing is not usually easy to do. In fact, most right choices are difficult to make. But they must be made, otherwise we risk living an unfulfilled life or one full of regrets.
