IN THE QUAKE OF A SUDDEN DECISION
10/04/07
Very often the circumstances occur when I am forced to make a sudden decision that might be life changing. It happened to me recently when I was offered an “unusual” opportunity. As I persue my normal course, and career, opportunities will often present themselves ; that may change my life . If I accept an opportunity, or reject it, either decision creates an emotional and intellectual quake of sizemic proportions in my emotional equalibrium. It upsets my natural balance. It either throws me into a frenzy of thoughts of fear , fear of the unknown, fear of the past, fear of the future, or fear of failure ,or if it feels right to me to accept it I become uplifted with positive thoughts and hope. Having had much experience with these sudden upheavels of emotions, I tend to ignore and disallow the swing of emotional tides , when opportunities first present themselves.
I have come to accept fear as a beneficial emotion. It creates in me an urgency to act upon something. It disturbs my complacency and polarizes my thought process, to the extent that what seemed impossible at one time , suddenly appears as a possibility. Fight or Flight are my first reactions. I have too often chosen to fight, instead of choosing the more reasonable course of flight. I believe most people choose to fight off their fears; rather than run from them. Running from fear simply delays it’s inevitable effects. The problem with running away from fear is that if I am temporarily successful at escaping it , I may miss the opportunity that it initially presented . If I had stood my emotional ground, and weighed the logical results , then prepared a defensive and offensive plan to fight and overcome the fear, I would have been far more successful in making the proper choices, when confronted by the need to make sudden decisions.
There are many instances when Flight is the best choice; when our life is threatened by an unbeatable natural force, or our career is theatened by a merger, or closing of a company, or when a devastating, unexplainable, tragedy affects our lives. In these instances we often have advanced warning, to make the necessary arrangements to flee the impending danger or stand our ground and resist it. But too often opportunities, or sudden dangers appear without warning. There is no time to prepare , only to react immediately. At that instant of recognition of danger or opportunity, what we intuitively feel, is the right response . If we are driving on a road or highway, and see an accident ahead of us, we immediately put on our brakes or turn our vehicle to avoid a collision. If we hesitate too long , or ignore our intuitive initial response , we may crash , or cause a worse situation.
Opportunities often presents themselves; that may enhance my life, or bring a needed solution to solve a problem I am engaged in. I have often ignored my initial, intuitive response, and rationalized my acceptance of an opportunity; even though I felt it may not deliver the best solution to my problem, and may be only a temporary fix. I have taken this shortcut many times before, and found if I had waited a little longer to make my decision the right opportunity would have presented itself. I am convinced , that when opportunities present themselves to me , I intuitively know if they are right and proper to persue. However, the fear of missing an opportunity to appease my abused vanity, or increase my income , or enhance my career, are extremely powerful incentives. They have caused me to ignore my initial, intuitive responses, that told me to wait for better opportunities to present themselves. This impulsiveness in my decision making, has created many unwanted results.
I have decided to allow this ‘unusual’ opportunity I am considering , to re- present itself in a more beneficial way. Intuitively I believe I have responded correctly to it. As my life proceeds on it’s unchartered course, I know that many opportunities will arise unexpectedly. That is the fun in life. The unexpected opportunities are similar to the “Chance”or “Community Chest” cards in a Monopoly game. How we respond to the opportunities presented to us, will determine the outcome of the game. Fortunes can be changed as quickly and randomly as the results from a throw of the dice, or the pick of a card. We can choose to throw the dice, and continue the game, or allow our fear of failure, or the unknown, to make us withdraw from the game. A wise player counts his winnings, and losses, and trusts his intuition; before he makes the decision to take a chance, on a gamble he might lose. I have never gone wrong when I trusted my intuition. I have gone wrong when I didn’t.
L.A. STEEL
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