Have you ever read a quote like this, and had a kind of sick feeling in your stomach? It comes when you think about something that you had always wanted to do. Something that you told yourself you WOULD DO some day. And then the day came when you had that golden opportunity to actually do it!
But for some reason that you can’t quite identify—you declined on the opportunity. And now you look back—with regret. For two reasons. First because you missed the opportunity when it came. Second because you realize you may never have the opportunity again.
I learned this lesson the hard way many years ago. I learned it several times because sometimes I can be a bit slow. But each time I looked back, I had that sick feeling within. I metaphorically kicked myself for letting the chance pass me by. Maybe to never come again.
But during ONE of those regret sessions, I made a commitment to myself not to let this happen ANYMORE! That when the chance came to do something or begin something or try something—THAT I WOULD DO IT. That I would say yes to the opportunity when the opportunity came. Though I’ve had some lapses along the way, I’ve never for a moment regretted that commitment. Want some examples? Here are two. I could offer many more.
- I was traveling in a distant city after moving away from it many years before. I had left some good friends in that city, and had lost contact with them over the years and the miles. But I was now in their city. So I thought about looking them up and stopping by for a visit. I didn’t know where they lived at this point, but I did some research in the phone book and found them. Yes, this was a LONG TIME AGO. Who uses phone books anymore? Anyway, I tried several times to talk myself out of this. What if I catch them at an inconvenient time? What if they aren’t home? What if they think it rude of me to show up unannounced? I went back and forth. I was in…I was out. I was in…I was out. Finally I decided to just go for it anyway. What was the worst thing that could happen? So I drove my rented car to their house, went up to the door, rung the doorbell…and waited. I will never forget the look on their faces when they saw me. It was pure shock. But it was a good shock. They were so glad to see me. We spent a lovely evening together catching up, having dinner, and enjoying each other’s company. They thanked me several times for stopping by and for not being afraid to take a chance. I have never seen these people since that day—now almost 25 years ago. If I had failed to stop by when I had the chance, I know I would regret it to this day.
- I struggled for a long time with starting a blog. I had thought about it many times over several years, but always decided to put it off until another time. Each time I decided NOT TO START, a few months would pass and I would think to myself, “You should have started the blog BACK THEN when you were thinking seriously about it. Now all that time has passed when you could have been writing and posting. Now that time is gone forever.” I had that sick feeling again. This went on for a long time. Longer than I will admit here. But a day eventually came when I was once again contemplating STARTING! But this time I thought how I would feel a year from now having squandered the moment yet one more time. But at that magic moment I figured I could at least SET UP the blog site. So I did. And after that I figured why not just write a simple introductory post that will only take a few minutes? So I did. Then I figured why not tweak it a bit and actually PUBLISH IT as my very first blog post? So I did. Now it’s been nearly 2 years since that day. And with rare exception I’ve posted two blogs every single week since. Nearly 200 posts. Nearly 30,000 views on the site—and growing every day. Had I decided NOT TO START—two more years would have gone by. And as Karen Lamb says—I would have wished I had started…THEN.
This reminds me of what Nike says:
Yesterday you said tomorrow.
OUCH!
I also recall what the organizational expert and author, Gretchen Rubin says:
Days are long but years are short.
A statement that first gives us pause. Days are MUCH SHORTER than years. Years are MUCH LONGER than days. So what can she mean? She means that it’s so easy to put off something in the moment. To put it off until tomorrow. To put it off until next week. To put it off until next month. And before we know it, we’re back to the same date ONE YEAR LATER. Where did that year go? And the strange thing is that the day itself may seem quite long. While we look back on the year and it seemed SO FAST. That’s just the way it is. But it helps to be aware of it.
This reminds me of the conversation that two friends were having about the career of one of them. Both friends were approaching middle age, and many of their earlier decisions were now playing out. One friend was pretty sure that if he returned to college and got a degree, he would open up many opportunities for his career and his life. He shared this idea with his friend, who asked, “So why don’t you go back to college”? The other friend answered, “Well, if I go back to college and take 4 years, I’ll be 40 years old when I finish.” The friend thought about this for a moment, and then said to his friend:
How old will you be in 4 years if you DON’T go back to college?
He went back to college.
Finally, as the ancient Roman poet, Horace once said:
Carpe Diem
Which of course means—SEIZE THE DAY! Don’t put it off. Do it now. Try it now. Start it now. Because a year from now you may wish you had started today.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
You can receive Quotation Celebration automatically in your email inbox by clicking the FOLLOW button at the bottom of this screen and leaving your email address.
You can also find Quotation Celebration on Facebook.
Your comments are most welcome.
Thank you for reading Quotation Celebration.
Copyright © 2018 by Samuel Rodenhizer
All Rights Reserved
Quotation Celebration 