Nothing triggers off overthinking quite like encountering a fork in the road of life, and having to decide which way to go.
We spend weeks agonising over the decision, crowd source opinions from all our friends and family members, research everything to the nth degree … and still, we find ourselves no closer to an answer.
When this happens, it’s almost always because we’ve decided that one choice is ‘right’ and one is ‘wrong’. We think we’re choosing between two paths that look like this:
If we get the decision ‘right’, it’ll be smooth sailing all the way. Life will be easy! If we get the decision ‘wrong’, we’ll be faced with ever-increasing challenges.
So, we put a lot of time and energy into avoiding the wrong choice.
We need to stop looking at the options on hand in this way. For most things we’re deciding between, there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, there is simply a path forward.
One path might be cruisy at the start, but present major challenges later on.
The other path might veer upward the second you put your foot on it, but the challenges it throws up along the way might be fairly easy to overcome.
Both paths have the potential to land you in the same place at the ‘end’.
In life, there are very few genuinely ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ choices but if you do find yourself making the ‘wrong’ choice, here’s what’s going to happen:
- You’ll make it right
- You’ll learn a hard lesson that stands you in good stead later
- You’ll be able to strike something off the ‘things I thought I wanted to do’ list
Two other things worth remembering about paths in life:
- If you don’t like the one you’re on, you can change it.
- The most challenging climbs give the best views.
