Taking A Chance

Early today, someone told me a story about three statements he heard one day in a hospital room, and he asked me to think about them—"Why am I here?" Then "It must be something important." And finally, "I don't have much time left." The point is, spending a bit of time with these questions can be worth your while and might make a difference in how you live.

"I don't have much time." Without being morbid about it, none of us knows how much time we have. Surprises happen.

"Is it something important?"I am not among those "who feel that life is but a joke." There have been just a few too many meaningful and rewarding moments to let me believe what we do doesn't matter. I prefer to view that one on the smallest of scales—there are people I can directly touch and that has added meaning to my own life. So "why am I here?" and am I on the right track?

Someone reminded me today that every time I've made a change or moved, I've wound up better off. Now, these are life-changing choices I'm talking about. This comment was made on the anniversary of a lucky change I made many years ago. There have been thirteen since the one I just mentioned—some of them overlap--moves from job to job, company to company, house to house. I count nine jobs, within three companies, in ten different places we've called home. Counted that way, it's twenty-two. Either way, I regret none of them. Oh sure, I wish I could have avoided the equity drain from my current house, but who has been able to avoid that one, besides renters?

Choices. As you might have guessed, I am facing a couple of them right now. I'm sure it's time to just get on with it, but still I wish I knew for certain which way to move and when. But, if I reflect on most of those choices, I was just ready to roll the dice. It often had to do as much with what I was leaving behind as it did with what I was moving toward. Oh, I know you aren't supposed to be running away, but I know it was a factor at least four of those times, maybe more. Only once was there no clear evidence I expected the change would improve my life—a lateral move motivated more by who/what I was getting away from than what I was moving into. Ironically, that move proved to be a real game-changer, perhaps the best move I ever made.

So, today I'm making the first step in a two or three step change. I know what I'm leaving behind, the good and the bad about it, and I know an increasing part of my motivation is coming from a desire to leave it behind. Leaving it will entail some sacrifice, but I think it's time. The first step is really making this change possible. But the focus is still on what I'm leaving to an extent. So, where to? I think I'll figure out why I'm here just by taking a chance.