Making Choices in Life

Many of us are pack rats in our own lives – wanting to have everything and having a hard time making choices.

I gave up a good-paying job a few years ago to focus on volunteer work in developing countries. When I shared my stories, I sometimes got comments like “Oh, I wish I were as lucky as you.” , or “Oh, I wish I could afford the same kind of choice you made.” I found it ironic because most of the times the comments were from people who owned nice homes and had great jobs. I had no doubt that they could “afford” the same choice I made. They just had a hard time making that choice.

I often think of life as anything we can hold in or embrace with 2 arms. There is a limit to how much you could hold. If you want something that is not already in your arms, sometimes you would have to first give up something you have in order to make room for the new thing. Sometimes the things in our embrace are so full and piled up in front of us that all we could see was what other people next to us have in their arms. And we forget how good the things we already have in our arms.

So maybe life is like an on-going barter process. We drop something old with one arm and grab on something new with another arm. After a while something new becomes something old and non-fitting. Don’t be afraid to trade up or trade down. You gain some and you lose some. Sometimes we make good choices. Sometimes we make bad choices. But we know that there will always be more opportunities for more barters in life. Enjoy the moment while it is in your arm.