Rash decisions are often regretted. Short-term satisfaction without the consideration of long-term implications can be a mistake that increases in magnitude as time passes.
Over-thinking can also be an error. Delayed decisions can result in missed opportunities. Snoozers are losers.
The objective should always be to live life at a more measured and considered pace, to hasten slowly. The aim should be to avoid conflict and disruption; to live life in peace.
It's the reality of day-to-day existence that turns what we want into what we have. Disappointment can quickly overshadow dreams. Acceptance can deteriorate into defeat.
It need not be that way. It's a matter of choice as to whether that's the end of our story. Only the individual can decide. Reappraisal and reinvention are always available alternatives.
Building a bridge between where we are and where we want to be, takes more effort than imagination but the former must follow the latter. Small, unceasing steps have more chance of success than giant leaps. Grand gestures are not as effective as consistent, persistent effort.
Comparisons are odious. One person's measure of success is not the same as that of another person.
What matters, in the final analysis, is that an individual tried and consistently worked to become the best version of themselves. That's all any of us can do.
- Gary Bentley is a Rural Aid counsellor