Monday, November 24, 2008

regrets, I've had a few...

There are always people along the road of your life who will tell you that you "can't" do something.

You can't become a musician, you can't major in fiction writing, you can't take a break from college, you can't quit your job and travel the country, you can't move away from your family, you can't take that job in Europe, you can't... can't... can't...

...and what these people mean by "can't" is that you will fail if you do these things; the odds are against you.

To those who say "can't," I pose this question: What have you ever done with your life that makes you an expert on what can or can't be achieved in life and what is or is not a success or failure to someone?

Most of the people who tell others they "can't" do something or they will fail if they try, have a small frame of reference from which they view the world... they work the job they hate and 'raise' the kids they had at often too young of an age, and see the entire world and how it relates to them from the perspective of their own backyard.

...and nothing else is normal or ok or right or doable in their mind.

Fear drives these people-- fear of change, fear of failure, fear of loss, fear of success; Jealousy drives these people-- jealousy that someone they know will succeed or do something interesting while they continue on their short-sighted backyard journey.

I have seen people do something they were told they "can't" do and make it to the top of their journey on the first attempt.

I have seen people who believe in what they want to do "fail" upon their first attempt, and sometimes their second attempt and sometimes their third and fourth and so on until they got to where they want to be.

I have seen people fail at what they want to do and be brought through it to something even greater and better than they ever imagined.

I have seen people fail and put their tail between their legs and go back to what they knew before the failure with a better view on where they came from and a new driving force.

...but i have never once known anyone that failed and would take it back; I've never met anyone who regretted the journey...

...the only regrets I have ever heard from anyone, are regrets for the chances they chose not to take...

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I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.
~Brittany Renée
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