Chances
I’ve taken a lot in the more recent years of my life. I got my first master’s degree thinking that the job market for said degree would remain strong. I pursued a relationship with a girl that ended up falling apart before it even got off the ground, leaving me shattered. I took a chance trusting people who I thought were friends, only to have my life turned on its head by them, and losing other friends in the process. Finally, I took a chance, deciding to study for my second master’s degree here in Australia. I traveled on my own, thousands of miles away from anything and anyone familiar. I felt like this was where I could make the most of my life and realize my true potential.
Taking chances means taking risks. It means diving into the unknown, often without enough information to know exactly how things will turn out. Take too many, and no matter how lucky you are, eventually you’ll catch up with yourself and things will go badly. Take too few, and you’ll never reach your full potential or experience the full potential of your life. Without taking chances, nothing changes. Fear, apprehension, confusion, indecisiveness – all of it has to be overcome to take any chance. To be able to do so is no small feat when it comes to the important things, things that can change one’s life.
More often than not, the decision of whether or not to take a chance lies solely upon weighing potential gains against potential losses. These are the easiest decisions to make. Sometimes though, we take risks out of sheer curiosity, where the potential negatives are fairly large, but the potential positives are either so tempting or one is so curious as to where you just say to hell with the consequences and go for it. Oftentimes this happens even though everything in your head is telling you to turn away. These are the chances that, when they go badly, they go disastrously badly. But when they turn out well, the upswing is far more than you could have ever possibly imagined.
The question remains: Do I regret the chances I’ve taken? To be perfectly honest, I regret a lot of chances I’ve taken in my life, both recently and farther back. I don’t think there’s anyone who’s never regretted a single chance they’ve taken. On the flip side of things though, I have never regretted being willing to take chances and actually working up the courage and the guts to take chances. Taking chances is just one of the ways that I affirm my control over my own life. It lets me know that I'm free, that my choices are my own. I don’t plan on shying away from that. If I think it’s worth it, I’ll take on any challenges or difficulties. It’s how I move forward. It’s how I realize my potential. If I’ve set my mind on it, I’d take on the world.
I’ll close this entry with another quote from Vincent Van Gogh. I’ve actually already used part of this, but upon going back and reading the whole thing, it just seems especially poignant in relation to this entry.
“If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and also will probably commit great faults and do wrong things, but it certainly is true, that it is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.”
-Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his Brother
Taking chances means taking risks. It means diving into the unknown, often without enough information to know exactly how things will turn out. Take too many, and no matter how lucky you are, eventually you’ll catch up with yourself and things will go badly. Take too few, and you’ll never reach your full potential or experience the full potential of your life. Without taking chances, nothing changes. Fear, apprehension, confusion, indecisiveness – all of it has to be overcome to take any chance. To be able to do so is no small feat when it comes to the important things, things that can change one’s life.
More often than not, the decision of whether or not to take a chance lies solely upon weighing potential gains against potential losses. These are the easiest decisions to make. Sometimes though, we take risks out of sheer curiosity, where the potential negatives are fairly large, but the potential positives are either so tempting or one is so curious as to where you just say to hell with the consequences and go for it. Oftentimes this happens even though everything in your head is telling you to turn away. These are the chances that, when they go badly, they go disastrously badly. But when they turn out well, the upswing is far more than you could have ever possibly imagined.
The question remains: Do I regret the chances I’ve taken? To be perfectly honest, I regret a lot of chances I’ve taken in my life, both recently and farther back. I don’t think there’s anyone who’s never regretted a single chance they’ve taken. On the flip side of things though, I have never regretted being willing to take chances and actually working up the courage and the guts to take chances. Taking chances is just one of the ways that I affirm my control over my own life. It lets me know that I'm free, that my choices are my own. I don’t plan on shying away from that. If I think it’s worth it, I’ll take on any challenges or difficulties. It’s how I move forward. It’s how I realize my potential. If I’ve set my mind on it, I’d take on the world.
I’ll close this entry with another quote from Vincent Van Gogh. I’ve actually already used part of this, but upon going back and reading the whole thing, it just seems especially poignant in relation to this entry.
“If only we try to live sincerely, it will go well with us, even though we are certain to experience real sorrow, and great disappointments, and also will probably commit great faults and do wrong things, but it certainly is true, that it is better to be high-spirited, even though one makes more mistakes, than to be narrow-minded and all too prudent. It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love, is well done.”
-Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his Brother
posted by L at
7:45 AM
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