Choices, Change, and Opportunity

Someone wise told me tonight that the opportunities that keep knocking at my door are not going to go away any time soon.  They will be there tomorrow, next week, and in 5 years.  What I took from this was the ability to breath.  I was able to recognize, with that simple statement, I have choices.  I do not have to scramble to do everything all at once. These opportunities are here because of the hard work I have put in over the years.  The networking, the education, and the skills I have developed over the years open these doors.  More importantly, I open these doors. They say, "When opportunity knocks, you should listen." Sometimes what it is saying is look at how far you have come.
Opening doors, inevitably, means choosing one to walk through.  I have been standing in the doorway for quite a few months now.  A foot on each side of the threshold.  I have been split in half in what I want to do.  Do you make a large impact, or focus on many small ones?  Do you do the thing that feeds your soul or do you do the thing in which you can do the most good? Those are the big questions.  Now don't think, dear reader, that some of this decision isn't based in selfishness.  I am highly egotistical.  I enjoy being successful, being good at something.  I like to win. I also think I can do anything I put my mind too. It might not be perfect at first, but I will find the resources, I will learn the thing, and it will get done.  Do not doubt it.
So the key to any decision with me is to look at it with some perspective.  To identify how much my ego is playing a role vs how much is truly altruism and how much is actually a realistic possibility.
I am fortunate to have friends who remind me of this.
I have no answers tonight, nor do I know what direction I will go or which side of the door I will walk through.  I do know that life is nothing but the choices we make, we are the actions we take, and opportunity is made, not stumbled across.

Changes, success, and other random thoughts

Sometimes you get so wrapped up in the day to day grind you forget the things that set you on your path, you forget what direction you are supposed to be going.  It is like walking through a long tunnel.  You know, somewhere in your mind, there is a sky, trees, birds, fresh air but all you can see is the gray of the walls and a faint light up ahead.  After a while, you begin to feel disoriented and the only real goal is to keep trudging forward towards the end in hopes of reaching something different. 

Then you remember what it is like to get out of that tunnel.  You remember there are multiple roads and mountains to climb.  The walk through the tunnel is not the goal, reaching the end is not the goal; it is merely another piece of the journey.  You get to choose where to go, be it up, down, straight ahead, or back in the tunnel.  Your steps get faster, more determined, as your brain works though the possible roads to take knowing none of them will be wrong as long as you maintain the direction you feel good about. 

This does not mean you will not trip and fall.  It does not mean the direction you choose will be the right choice for you at that moment in time.  It does not mean you will not fail.  It does not mean it will not hurt.  It does mean you have more options than staying in the tunnel.  It means you have the opportunity to succeed.  We would not know what success is if we did not fail every once in a while.  If you did not trip on the step, you would not know to pick up your feet.  If you do not pick up your feet, you will not be able to climb the mountain.

So take the chance.  Take the road with the giant potholes, steep hills, and hairpin curves. The straightaways are going to feel amazing and the views will be epic.