ABC

For those of you reading this who know me it will be no revelation to discover that I am incredibly indecisive. For those who don't know me then you will just have to take my word for it! This morning I had to make the decision about whether or not to have fruit with me cereal, and I have to shamefully admit that in the end I didn't bother having any breakfast because I simply couldn't make up my mind.

This made me think about all the decisions I have made in my life so far, and I came to the realisation that I have already made decisions which are going to have a negative affect on my future but I don't even know it yet. This is quite a daunting thought to say the least!

The biggest decisions I,and many others my age, have had to make so far have been about my education. I have not yet had to make decisions about where I want to live, who I want to be with, and in some ways I have not actually had to decide what career I want to have when I 'grow up'. However, the decisions I have made during my education may have already affected my options in regards to all other areas of my life.

It may seem as though I am rambling about my worries for the future, but these worries got me thinking about whether, as a society, we start decision making too early.

When we are 16 we are not allowed to vote, drive, drink, watch certain films or play certain video games because we are not deemed to be old enough or sensible enough. Yet at 16 we are asked to decide whether to continue with education or start our working lives. Some people may have found this decision an easy one to make, while others spend hours worrying about making the wrong decision, and there may be people reading this now who are still wondering if they made the right decision when they were 16.

I am reminded of the song 'Everybody wears suncreen' by Baz Lurman which makes more sense to me than any information I have ever been given by people in positions of authority, and I would encourage anyone reading this to listen to it! The following lyrics helped me recently when I was doubtful about the decisions I have made:

"Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t."

Admittedly some decisions are reversable, and in some cases this includes choosing education over work, but we do not always have the reassurance that our choices can be changed later on. So what happens if we find out that somewhere along the line, whether we are 18 or 80, we have made a wrong decision?

I would like to pass on something I made up which has helped me in times of doubt. If you have made a wrong decision then simply remember ABC:

ACCEPT that you cannot change the past!

BREATHE - there is nothing that cannot be helped by deep slow breaths!

CARRY ON - what's for you won't pass you by, so carry on don't dwell on it.

Hopefully this might stick with you and maybe even help if you are like me and are always questioning your decisions!