Blink
I've been thinking about how lives can change drastically from one minute to the next.
You can be on the top of the world. Things are moving along nicely. Then you look away for a second or you make a decision that changes everything. This change could be for the better or for the worse.
Certainly we control all of our actions and decisions, but we can make the same decision everyday and it doesn't change anything until one day it changes everything.
I was driving down the street the other day and a song came on the radio I didn't particularly like, so I looked down for 3 seconds to change the stations. When I looked up, a car was there, appearing out of nowhere. I slammed on the breaks and narrowly escaped an accident that would have driven my insurance rates up and could have written off my car. That 3 seconds would have changed many other things: less money each month to live on, the loss of my wheels that provide convenience for my family and I, the possibility of hurting another human being (just think if it was a person crossing the road in front of me).
A friend of mine just found out that she is pregnant and doesn't know how to get in touch with the father. He was a fun fling that went wrong. In that couple of moments of passion, her life changed drastically. No matter what her decision is going forward, her life will change. Maybe for the better. Maybe towards struggle.
Another friend of mine was caught with drugs. In that moment, he knew that his life would change drastically. Now he is facing time in jail and a permanent criminal record for getting caught with a recreational drug that many people use daily without consequence. His life will be altered forever.
Another friend of mine decided to stop in at a local pub on her way home from work as she would ocassionaly after a long day. Halfway through her vodka martini, she struck up a conversation with a man who would become her husband and the father of their soon-to-be-born daughter. Before that, she had given up on finding 'Mr. Right'.
No matter how good or how hopeless everything seems at any given time in your life, you just can't predict what's going to happen next. The same thing you do everyday or something you do out of the ordinary could produce a life-altering change.
Hugh McLeod says, "the market for something to believe in is infinite" which I've turned into one of my personal mantras, "The possibility for change is infinite. Believing in that is crucial." I know the connection doesn't make immediate sense, but what Hugh is talking about is hope. Our human desire to always believe there is more that awaits us is important. Whether it is spirituality or politics or money or love...we want to believe.
Jack Nicholson asked in his movie with a similar name years ago, "Is this as good as it gets?" Nope. And it's not as bad as it gets, either. Which point of view you take depends on whether you are a pessimist or an optimist. I know that in a blink, I could encounter a situation that takes my career to the next level. In another blink, I could lose my job. In the next blink, a new door could open that I wouldn't have considered on my previous path.
I don't entirely agree with the point of view that we control our outcomes. What we do can definitely influence them, but the consequences aren't always apparent to us. I have another girlfriend who is searching for 'Mr. Right' who puts herself into many situations where she could meet him. She keeps herself positive and hopeful, but it may well happen when she least expects it.
One thing that change is always good for is that it almost always shakes us from our complacency. We have to do things differently going forward. Think about things in a new light. Alter the way we live.
I should add, though: Change isn't always positive for humankind. I heard Evan Solomon speak a couple of years on the topic, "Change and Change Again" where he revealed that frequent change can breed its own version of complacency. Just think of rising gas prices (after raising them for so long, we accept the change as inevitable) and the speed of developing technology - leaving the general public disinterested and unengaged. He is right.
But what I'm talking about is life-altering situations. These don't (often) happen every day. And the result of these changes shake our stagnancy more than they feed it. And, yes, you can be the instrument of change yourself. Then you are more in control of it.
So next time you sit in your cubicle and wonder "what is the point of it all?". Or next time you dine alone and tell yourself you will never meet someone with the same love of gourmet cooking. Or next time you think life is absolutely perfect and nothing can stop your climb to the top of the world, remember:
You can be on the top of the world. Things are moving along nicely. Then you look away for a second or you make a decision that changes everything. This change could be for the better or for the worse.
Certainly we control all of our actions and decisions, but we can make the same decision everyday and it doesn't change anything until one day it changes everything.
I was driving down the street the other day and a song came on the radio I didn't particularly like, so I looked down for 3 seconds to change the stations. When I looked up, a car was there, appearing out of nowhere. I slammed on the breaks and narrowly escaped an accident that would have driven my insurance rates up and could have written off my car. That 3 seconds would have changed many other things: less money each month to live on, the loss of my wheels that provide convenience for my family and I, the possibility of hurting another human being (just think if it was a person crossing the road in front of me).
A friend of mine just found out that she is pregnant and doesn't know how to get in touch with the father. He was a fun fling that went wrong. In that couple of moments of passion, her life changed drastically. No matter what her decision is going forward, her life will change. Maybe for the better. Maybe towards struggle.
Another friend of mine was caught with drugs. In that moment, he knew that his life would change drastically. Now he is facing time in jail and a permanent criminal record for getting caught with a recreational drug that many people use daily without consequence. His life will be altered forever.
Another friend of mine decided to stop in at a local pub on her way home from work as she would ocassionaly after a long day. Halfway through her vodka martini, she struck up a conversation with a man who would become her husband and the father of their soon-to-be-born daughter. Before that, she had given up on finding 'Mr. Right'.
No matter how good or how hopeless everything seems at any given time in your life, you just can't predict what's going to happen next. The same thing you do everyday or something you do out of the ordinary could produce a life-altering change.
Hugh McLeod says, "the market for something to believe in is infinite" which I've turned into one of my personal mantras, "The possibility for change is infinite. Believing in that is crucial." I know the connection doesn't make immediate sense, but what Hugh is talking about is hope. Our human desire to always believe there is more that awaits us is important. Whether it is spirituality or politics or money or love...we want to believe.
Jack Nicholson asked in his movie with a similar name years ago, "Is this as good as it gets?" Nope. And it's not as bad as it gets, either. Which point of view you take depends on whether you are a pessimist or an optimist. I know that in a blink, I could encounter a situation that takes my career to the next level. In another blink, I could lose my job. In the next blink, a new door could open that I wouldn't have considered on my previous path.
I don't entirely agree with the point of view that we control our outcomes. What we do can definitely influence them, but the consequences aren't always apparent to us. I have another girlfriend who is searching for 'Mr. Right' who puts herself into many situations where she could meet him. She keeps herself positive and hopeful, but it may well happen when she least expects it.
One thing that change is always good for is that it almost always shakes us from our complacency. We have to do things differently going forward. Think about things in a new light. Alter the way we live.
I should add, though: Change isn't always positive for humankind. I heard Evan Solomon speak a couple of years on the topic, "Change and Change Again" where he revealed that frequent change can breed its own version of complacency. Just think of rising gas prices (after raising them for so long, we accept the change as inevitable) and the speed of developing technology - leaving the general public disinterested and unengaged. He is right.
But what I'm talking about is life-altering situations. These don't (often) happen every day. And the result of these changes shake our stagnancy more than they feed it. And, yes, you can be the instrument of change yourself. Then you are more in control of it.
So next time you sit in your cubicle and wonder "what is the point of it all?". Or next time you dine alone and tell yourself you will never meet someone with the same love of gourmet cooking. Or next time you think life is absolutely perfect and nothing can stop your climb to the top of the world, remember:
The possibility for change is infinite. Believing in that is crucial.
What is important, then, is what you do with the experience when it happens.
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