The fact
is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back
shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through
as well as we can.
Robert Cushing
We all have or had moments in our lives where we were unhappy about certain things, we wanted them to be different, we wanted change. But at the same time we are afraid of taking a risk. We think about the consequences, which is of course necessary. But don’t you think that sometimes you have to risk something? Do you rather choose the more comfortable way? Do you think of everything bad that could happen and then decide not to “jump in”? Or do you agree with what the quote says?
We all have or had moments in our lives where we were unhappy about certain things, we wanted them to be different, we wanted change. But at the same time we are afraid of taking a risk. We think about the consequences, which is of course necessary. But don’t you think that sometimes you have to risk something? Do you rather choose the more comfortable way? Do you think of everything bad that could happen and then decide not to “jump in”? Or do you agree with what the quote says?
Today, I
went through some of my old diaries, or whatever you can call them, as they
were just books where I wrote down some of my thoughts before I had a blog. The
oldest ones are from 2002 and contain just some very insignificant stories from
a little child. But there are also more serious entries from the last years.
While reading some of them, I realized that there have been a lot of changes during
the last year that are mostly invisible for other persons. I have learned so much in this year.
Exactly a year ago I moved away from my hometown to begin with my studies at university. There were a lot people that tried to convince me it would be easier to not move away and to stay at my parents’ house. Besides, some people were saying I shouldn’t choose a Chinese course and instead learn another language because Chinese is too difficult to learn.
I thought a lot about it and I came to the conclusion that this one time I would do exactly what I thought would be the best for me and do what I wanted to do. I have never regretted once that I made this decision and I am glad to be responsible for myself. I knew it was not going to be easy, as my parents made very clear they wouldn’t support me if I moved away, nonetheless I am absolutely convinced it was the best decision I could make. Certainly, I’m having some hard times as well, especially when I have to pay my tuition fee, as I don’t get any financial support at the moment and it’s hard to find a job while being at university from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days. But it could definitely be worse. I mentioned in some earlier posts the difficult relationship to my family, so there was no way I could have been happy while still living there.
When reading my old diary entries, I can see that I really went through some personal growth this last year. I was surprised at how I have seen things before and how unhappy I was and I am happy I did something to change it.
Exactly a year ago I moved away from my hometown to begin with my studies at university. There were a lot people that tried to convince me it would be easier to not move away and to stay at my parents’ house. Besides, some people were saying I shouldn’t choose a Chinese course and instead learn another language because Chinese is too difficult to learn.
I thought a lot about it and I came to the conclusion that this one time I would do exactly what I thought would be the best for me and do what I wanted to do. I have never regretted once that I made this decision and I am glad to be responsible for myself. I knew it was not going to be easy, as my parents made very clear they wouldn’t support me if I moved away, nonetheless I am absolutely convinced it was the best decision I could make. Certainly, I’m having some hard times as well, especially when I have to pay my tuition fee, as I don’t get any financial support at the moment and it’s hard to find a job while being at university from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days. But it could definitely be worse. I mentioned in some earlier posts the difficult relationship to my family, so there was no way I could have been happy while still living there.
When reading my old diary entries, I can see that I really went through some personal growth this last year. I was surprised at how I have seen things before and how unhappy I was and I am happy I did something to change it.
And about
Chinese, it turned out to be the course in which I have the best grades, as it
is something I am really interested in.
There have
been several moments in my life where I had to make the decision of taking a
risk and try something I was afraid of because I have never done it before or
because I knew it could be difficult. But whenever I chose to do it anyway, it
turned out to be the right decision. Are these not the moments that make our
lives exciting?
Do you
rather like to choose the safe way that you already know everything about or do
you take some risks? Did you ever regret your decisions?
In my
opinion, a lot of people want to change something in their lives, they want
things to become better but they don’t want to do something about it. They want
progress but they are afraid of change. They are afraid of the unknown. I think
you have to dare something, you have to take some chances to move forward. As
the quote says, you just have to jump in and scramble through as well as you
can. And this is what I am trying to do.
I do not know the context Mr. Cushing had expressed his quote, but it seems as if he fell short of the target.
ReplyDeleteNot always the right decision is to close the eyes and jump! Maybe it is a better and easier thing to cling to our known "fears" which we can managed, than to get new ones that we must learn to handle.
But this is only an introduction to a quote which seems to be aimed to school people more than to people in general, so I felt it needed a clarification, which is not necessary, of course. But as the laptop is free and nobody was against the idea, here I am happily hitting the keys.
My experience was just in the line Mr. Cushing description, following the line of less resistance I found an "easy" job into a Corporation which let me walk the Earth and make experience to try and climb the pyramid which would in the end let me "see" the riches and wealth that were on the other side. All this was pie and milk until I found that the pie was of poison-berry and there were a lot of ticks in the milk.
Then Mr. Cushing fact began, my own misgivings, and those added by well-meaning people, and of those of the others, that "helped" to think more in the cold, and danger than in the jumping and scrambling!
Fortunately, there was the need to make a final decision and there I went, jumping and scrambling.
It was not easy, it is not easy! It is good to think that it was the right decision the one taken, but sometimes, the scramble is so strong and the cold is so icy that you look back dreaming about those warm onions, or the poisoned pie and soiled milk left behind.
The good news is: it is not possible to go back, and the other good news is that instead of climbing the pyramid, I walked about its base and saw that "the promised land" was not worth the pain to go up to the pinnacle
Now, in the lower echelons of life I can be happy to having getting down the money train, even if I lost the opportunity to own a Lamborghini and a tower as high as the Petronas Twin Towers! :)
I still walk the Earth, find a lot of, well, let's call them friends, that help me not to feel too alone, and lurk into Internet to keep going into the brilliant horizon of the future!
Time will tell! :)
Of course we cannot always just close the eyes and jump, we have to think and consider other possible opportunities, but I think sometimes we have to take a risk.
DeleteI still have to make these experiences you are talking about. But relating to the few experiences I have made I agree that it is not always easy but I also think the easy way is often not the right one and I mean right in my opinion.
I don't think you need a Lamborghini to be happy. :) And you're right, time will tell. :)
Thank you, I appreciate your comments so much!
Thank you so much! I feel so happy and honoured to hear such kind words!
ReplyDeleteI can relate to that, I think you are in a similar situation I have been. I can't speak for you, but for me it was the right decision to change things, even though I didn't know how it would work out. You should definitely do what you think is right for you and what makes you happy. :)
Thanks for your comment!