Doing

Some people have accused me of burning the candle at both ends.

My father says I try to light it in the middle as well.

Personally, I've just chunked the whole thing into fire. This is because of how busy I am. It is this activity that has prevented me from posting in so long. Between work, school, church, family, and friends, I am left with precious little time. I'm not saying I am the most effective custodian of time, but I am not one to waste much of it.

Life won't wait. That's not an original quote, but its one I believe in. For that reason I try live by one of my personal credos: "Eliminate every 'what if' possible from life."

Its risky business. Pause for a moment and consider the 'what if's you carry around with you in memory. Many of them most likely involve a moment of hesitation, or perhaps a situation requiring an inner strength or courage. Many of these situation cause one to place one's self on the line.

It all started with a woman. I'll spare you the details. Suffice it to say that my love life has been filled with many shut downs, let downs, put downs, and downs in general. As it were, I got to the point of not wanting to invest any more of myself in what I felt was losing the battle. However, a wonderful woman entered my life and I did nothing. Because I did nothing nothing happened, and now, in her life, I am nothing. I'm not saying we would have had something, but we could have. Now I'm left with nothing more than a 'what if'.

The solution: do. Notice I said do, not try. Turns out Yoda was right, partialy. In the present tense there is no trying, there is only doing. If we do and succeed, it can be said we did. If we do, and fail, it can be said we tried. The difference between do and try is failure. To try in the present implies future failure, something of which no certainty can be had with goals consived with even the slightest sense of reality. Thus, I never try anything, only do.

Now the novel truth.

We risk nothing in doing things with great potential for failure. In doing something and succeeding we have gained what ever it is we set out for. If in doing something we fail we still have accomplished something. In some cases we have learned a new limit, in others we have simply learned one way this goal cannot be accomplished. While this may only be a slight reward or progression, it is still movement in the right direction. Only if we do not will we have accomplished nothing save the creation of a 'what if' and in such the seed of regret.

Do.

Is there really any other option? For me there is not. For you? That is for you to decide. In closing I deliver one of my favorite quotes from a great man.

"In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing."
Theodore Roosevelt