Make Decisions. Lots of them.

"Choose things that'll change your life— not things that are comfortable.” -unknown

In my first 12 days here, I’ve met people from at least 16 different countries. Serbia, Kuwait, Ghana, Norway, New Zealand, Peru, Brazil, Korea, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Philippines, the US of A, and of course, Australia.

So far, so glad. Glad I chose to study abroad.

Choices come in an enormous array of sizes, but most are on the smaller side. Not to be forgotten or minimized, collectively they set us up for the bigger choices. Eventually, they present us with the bigger opportunities.

Our choices shape us into who we are, what we're about. They determine our destiny.

Choosing things that will change our life and the lives of others for the better takes concerted, conscious effort. If we want to have an impact on our world in this life, we need resolve.

Rome wasn’t built in a day. And, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Although this is the popular form of this quotation, a more correct translation from the original Chinese would be "The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet." Rather than emphasizing the first step, Lau Tzu regarded action as something that arises naturally from stillness. Another potential phrasing would be "Even the longest journey must begin where you stand." [note by Michael Moncur, September 01, 2004].

We can’t neglect the little steps right where we are if we have a destination in mind — a goal in sight. (Which we should have, by the way. —see previous post.)

As we move forward, NOT learning from our choices can come naturally — at times we don't even realize we're choosing not to learn from our choices. Life goes on, all by itself, and we're oblivious to the fact that we just left ourselves groveling in the dust of meaningless experience.

For a lot of humans, living in the comfortable norm is incredibly easy, and gets us nowhere, fast. Stepping out of our box, giving up our little bubble, is far more rewarding than we can ever imagine.

I’m still learning.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.”

And remember:

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” —Jim Elliot

Set Goals. Make Decisions. Face the Cons.