Lost And 20 Something

It’s called the “quarter-life crisis” and mine was smacking me right in the face, as I sat on a picnic table outside of my now former employer’s. I sat there confused and lost wondering “what next?” Freshly kicked out of college and facing a year’s academic suspension, I couldn’t help but feel that my options were limited, to say the least. And yet still in the back of my head came the voice of my ethics professor. “Jeff,” her voice whispered, “Police Foundations is black and white. You, my friend, are fluorescent pink!!! Go find your path.” I had been studying Police Foundations and looking back, it was trying to fit a large square into a small circle.

“Go find my path.” What kind of advice was this? I was in my early twenties and maybe she didn’t realize it, but I had to find a job, get married and buy a house in that order, and she wanted me to find my path. How about a job that pays forty thousand instead. Yet as this voice echoed in my head I came to understand that I was indeed at the fork in the road. My life was waiting for me to decide what was next. I weighed out my options - get another job that I hated but paid well and begin to settle into my boring life, or chase passion. I could see the fork as if it were a mirage staring right back at me. In this mirage I saw countless people following what was labeled the safe route. They all carried their lunch pails and walked with their heads down, as if defeated. And then directly beside it was another path, “the road less traveled” if you will. No one was walking down this one and yet, like a magnet, I was drawn to it.

And so that day I got up off that picnic table and decided to follow the path that no one else chose, and since then I have never looked back. I was going to be a writer!!!

As I write this article, I am preparing for the release of my second book "The World is Yours." As I reflect on my past and how far I have come in four years, I cannot help but think that the Green Goblin from Spider-Man was right – "We are who we choose to be." The one thing we can never escape is our decisions. I am a huge believer in life’s compound interest theory, meaning that you are the residual cheque of all your past actions, beliefs and of course, decisions. This is Great news, meaning that if you are unsatisfied with anything in your life, all you have to do is decide to change it. I believe that in life few people ever actually make decisions. I believe that most people think about things a lot, examine the ups and downs, but never actually decide.

There is a math involved with making decisions; it is the math that creates not only the domino effect in our lives, but also the domino effect in our world. The math is very simple and easy to understand:
Decision = actions = results.

There can be no results in life without a decision. It is important to note that not making a decision is also actually making a decision. For instance, by not deciding what you want in life, you are actually deciding to take whatever you get.

The decision I made while sitting on that picnic table was to pursue a dream, no excuse me, to live my dream. This article is a challenge to anyone who reads it to step up and live the dream they so deserve. Opportunity is only a decision away.