Ever make a great choice? The kind that you remind yourself and others of repeatedly? You did just the right thing at just the right time. Cue the unicorns.
It feels good to make a great decision and watch it play out. You don’t always get it right but, this time, you did. In the words of my son, “Boomshakalaka.”
I’ve made what I consider some pretty great decisions. I chose to ask Meredith to do life together. We chose to have the sweetest little boy and the spunkiest little girl to share that life with. I chose to start my own business and find a different way to do it. All are great choices from where I’m standing.
But they didn’t seem that way when I had to make them.
They were good choices back then. I felt good about making them. I also felt nervous. It’s true that there are some things you cannot undo. Even undoing them doesn’t really undo them. This is why we want to make perfect decisions. This is why we want every decision to be great. It’s not going to happen though.
First, not every decision is going to be a great one. You’re going to misread the room sometimes. You’re going to make a choice and it’s not always going to work out. Secondly, there’s no such thing as a great decision when you’re in the moment. There are only good decisions when you’re in the hot seat.
Great decisions are simply good decisions all grown up. Good decisions don’t become great choices until years down the line. I believe this like I believe in gravity.
I thought asking Meredith to marry me was a good decision at the time. I had no clue. Every good and decent piece of my adult life is because of her. You’re only able to read this because she found a way to draw me out of my fear-induced under-achieving cave. I know what courage is because she gave me some of hers.
I thought having children was a good idea, too. It’s what you do, right? My children are a supernova of love wrapped up in a melted heart. I manage a smile even when they’re frustrating me. Maybe not at first, but eventually I even see the beauty in their failed attempts at growing up.
The business just seemed like the right thing to do. That’s how I describe it when people ask what it took for me to make the decision to go out on my own. I didn’t have big dreams when I first set out. I just wanted to survive. I wanted to provide. I wanted to do something worth doing no matter how small.
It takes little effort for me to dub these decisions great now that I’ve seen them mature. But don’t let me forget how it felt when I was ringing the doorbell to my now Father-in-law’s home while inflating my backbone for what I was about to ask him. Don’t let me forget that moment when Meredith woke me from a flu-inflicted stupor to tell me we were expecting. Don’t let me forget what it was like when I had to decide if I was the kind of person to make their own way for a living.
Here’s to good decisions all grown up. It turns out they actually end up making you.
Photo credit : Wiki.
