Chapter 48...The 'life changing decisions!'

How cliche to start with this quote, but it really does sum up perfectly what my thinking is at the moment...

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get!"

One thing I have come to love most about life in the past couple of years is how it can seem so sorted and together one minute then so distorted and chaotic the next! The reasons for this are endless - work, love, family, the future - but the majority of them involve what we look at to be a 'life changing decision' that we must get right or the consequences will be tragic! Is it really the case that when we come to a crossroads in life, if we take one path and not the other then the regrets we may live with will eat away at us until we take our last breath of life?! I don't think so, because we can only ever be on one path at any one time and the reasons we used to rationalise our choice for that path were strong and full of confidence when we made the decision, making that path the right choice at that time!

I have battled with myself endlessly about some of the 'life changing decisions' I have made, but each and every one of them were the right ones because they have led me to be the risk-taking person that I like to think I am now! 'Life changing decisions' are put in our way at sometimes the most inconvenient of times, but we can only ever follow our gut instinct on them then never look back, which is easier said than done...I found myself looking back recently on some of my 'life changing decisions' and pondering the 'what ifs!' When I let my mind wander down the alternative path of my life I realised that was a path I would never have wanted to take anyway! Even though at the time I felt I was making such an important decision and I was weighing up every option, now it seems like all my decisions were so obvious to come to, because every one of them feels so right and I followed my gut instinct and my heart (even though I didn't know this at the time) on each of them! I have managed (for the time being anyway and I am fully aware that this could change in an instant) to stop searching for more and to stop questioning how I fit into societies plans for people, and I am slowly building up the confidence in myself and my decision making to take the time out to think about all angles and consequences, but to then run down the path that I have chosen with my heart wide open!

A lot of people do not understand my decision to live my life as chapters - Ghana being the one I am in right now, but it works for me and it means I am extremely excited already as to what the next chapter of my life will be post Ghana...!  This week I found myself describing my future as a blank canvas, because there are an endless number of places I can go and things I can do after Ghana and at some point something will happen to help me make my decision for the next chapter, however long that will be! Obviously I have a rough idea of what I would like from the next few years and then more generally from my life as a whole, but I am more than happy to be led through the next chapter by whatever force wants to lead me - work, love, family, the future!

Recently a new indirect 'life changing decision' has come my way and it has made me consider all of the people in my life who I would turn to for advise on it! I know exactly what the majority of you would say (much of it justified) and I know exactly what I would say to any of you in  my situation...that there is no one right way to live this thing called life! Each person has to base their decisions on the knowledge, information, thoughts and feelings they have at the time and once that decision is made they need to remove all potential for regrets and enjoy the path - good and bad parts - that they find themself on! There is no such thing as entrapment, we are all free to change our path in an instant if we decide it is not the one we want to be on, we just need to have the courage to go against the grain and live life for the here and now! So there should be nothing stopping us from following our heart, head and gut combined and jumping at the chance to make 'life changing decisions' then revelling in the initial unknown that comes with it! After all we are all here for such a short snippet of time when you consider what has come before and what will come after so we have to make that snippet of time the happiest, most courageous, most fulfilling that we can...!