Are You Afraid of Decision-Making? Choose Between Sticking to the Status Quo or Taking a Chance for a Better Life
I made a decision that changed my life, change the road you’re on.
It was a hot September afternoon in Florida. After the guard relieved me I headed to my pickup to try to get some sleep. It lasted less than an hour. I snapped. I left the job site and never returned.
A few days later, after a brief stop in South Carolina. I drove across the country to Minneapolis Minnesota. I took a chance for a better life. In short, my gamble failed. I spent almost three years homeless. During that time I beat myself up for making the wrong decision.
I had nothing to lose and everything to gain, I boarded a plane for South Carolina
Two and a half years later, I decided to leave Minneapolis. I returned to South Carolina to be with a woman I met on Facebook. I made two decisions that changed my life.
I was a security Guard in Florida for twenty years. I had dreamed of doing something else, but I didn’t know what I could do. I failed at everything I tried. When I arrived in South Carolina, my fiancée knew I wanted to write.
I found out I had the talent to write.
She paid for an online writing course for me. That course opened a new world. I found out I had the talent to be a writer. Paying to write on Medium was also a risk. The prospect of making money lured me in, but I found something more valuable.
Medium for me, is a graduate school to hone my craft
I found a place to hone my craft. I also found new friends. I will write on Medium as Long as Medium exists. I love this Platform. I learned to write on Medium, and I’m learning how to build an audience.
Bad things happen get through it and move on.
Bad things happen, you make the best decisions with the information you have. With your best intentions, things go wrong. Self-pity will get you nowhere. The best thing you can do when you’re up to your eyeballs in shit is to keep moving forward.
Living with no hopes or dreams is a living death
I met many homeless people who had been in that life for years. The thought of moving forward never entered their minds. They were content to sleep where they could as long as they had a free meal and access to their substance of choice.
They had no hopes or dreams at all. I’m sure most of them are still on the street if they’re not dead or in jail. With the help of a wonderful woman, I escaped homelessness.
Don’t try to go through life alone, humans weren’t built that way
Build relationships. Find a church or other outlet where you can be around people who care. I walked alone most of my life. For reasons I don’t understand, I never let anyone too close to me. That was a problem later in my life. If I had a church family or other source of moral and material support. Who knows where I would be now or what I would be doing?
I’m building relationships now. I go to church when I can. I keep in touch with other church members and I am working on getting to know more people in the community. I’m not the same person I was when I arrived in Minneapolis in September 2014.
Homelessness changed me, The trust issues remain
Minneapolis was days and nights of loneliness, despair, and terror. It changed me, but I’m still the same man I was. I’m more cynical and not as trusting as I was, and maybe that’s a good thing.
Life can be scary. You can’t let fear and uncertainty stop you from making a decision. Do something, even if it’s wrong. It might blow up in your face, or it might turn out alright. Either way, if you hang in there, you will learn about yourself.
Final Thought:
Taking a chance is scary, and failure sucks; trust me, I know. You have to take risks to grow and reach your potential. You need to understand that you might fall into a lake of shit.
If you fall in, swim, wade, or float to the other side. Keep moving and never quit.