We make them. Every day. Hundreds of them. And those choices dictate the path we take through our lives. But do you ever wonder “what if”? What if you turned left instead of right on your way to work? What if you stop to chat with that attractive barista? What if you bought those beautiful new shoes that you really didn’t need but they were so pretty? What if?
Ask the person who stopped to pick up cold medicine and was late to work on 9/11. Ask the person who hit the snooze button on their alarm one too many times and missed their flight, that later crashed. Ask the woman that was once a barista that you stopped talk to. Choices.
How do you know you’re making the right choice? Quite frankly I think it’s a crapshoot! Or perhaps it’s the hand of God. The hand of Fate? Every choice we make, every one, has a domino effect. You turn right instead of left and take the long way home. In the mean time you missed an accident on your old route. It’s possible you could’ve been in it. You drive by a group of kids and they like the car you’re driving. For the first time one of them thinks about being a mechanic to work on beautiful cars. 20 years later he owns a string of shops that specialize in high-end cars and he has a very healthy bank account, a wife and three kids. All because you turned right?
Sometimes it’s good to do the unexpected. Sometimes it’s good to turn right instead of left. Do something you’ve never done before. Take a road you’ve never traveled, just to see. I took a road I had never traveled before and I met some incredible people. People that have inspired me into going in a different direction, to try new things. Perhaps they awakened a part of me I didn’t know was asleep. And for more than six years I have been enjoying this little blog of mine. All because I turned left.
Good food for thought, Pam. Many years ago, I got off the highway rather than fight with a bus to merge. In an area I’d never been, I discovered Great River Park. I stop there almost every day now and I’ve shared (thousands, it seems) photos with you guys ever since.
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We are so glad you did!
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I think you’ll like tomorrow’s post.
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Dan – thanks for sharing the link to this post- good stuff…
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You’re welcome. Pam brings us some good stuff every day.
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I did something many, many years ago that has begun a domino affect to where I now am. Amazing things as each domino fell, each time clearing a hurdle to more and more beautiful things are before me.
Yes, many dark places are trod, but their outcomes are like a seed in the dirt…dark, mystifying…but as time goes by more and more light is absorbed until a majestic flower blooms into the sun to radiate that warmth from what has been created from it ❤️
Great post Pam, those turns are the making of us 😀
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I agree my friend! Well said Mark.
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This is a terrific post Pam. So glad you turned left and not right!
Likewise, when Dan suggested I take a look at your blog, I wasn’t enthused. I felt I already followed enough blogs. At some point I made the decision to ‘check you out’ and couldn’t tear myself away. And what a fun ride this has been!
There’s not a day I don’t look forward to seeing Butterflysand in my inbox. If you’re not making me LMAO, then you have me really mulling something over in my mind. Our cyber friendship means the world to me. And all because we made the decision to go in a different direction! Woohoo! 👏👏👏
🐾Ginger 🐾
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Oh Ginger I am so glad for the dominoes that fell. I am so pleased when I see your name too!
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The idea of going right instead of left is a good one, Pamela.
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Thanks John.
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Choices indeed, and I made a lot of wrong ones! But then it was a path to where I am now, to appreciate what I have having gone through some bad stuff (and came through it a better person I think).
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See, even a bad turn can help you get to the right place!
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Best stamp I ever purchased Pam!
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I’m glad you chose that path otherwise I’d never have had the joy of reading your words or talking to you online. I’ve often wondered after auto accidents what if I’d gone the other way, or why did I go that way today? Then again I’ve seen some very bad accidents with bad injuries and thought holy crap if I’d been through here a few minutes sooner that might’ve been me. I don’t know if it’s God or fate, but something guides those split second decisions. You just never know.
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But it does make you wonder . . .what if!
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When I was a college student I observed a speech therapist at work with a handicapped child. I went back to my college and immediately changed my major to Speech Pathology. That was a lucky move, and one I would never have known to do if not for that short view of a therapist at work. I knew at once that I wanted to do what she does. And I’ve never regretted it.
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A single moment in time put you on the right path!
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This is so true!
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Thanks
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You are so right Pam. One school of thought states that the only wrong thing to do is to do nothing at all. Life is devinitely what you make of it. Something else I read along the way said that to enrich your experience in life you should do something completely foreign to you, perhaps terrifying, once in awhile. That may be as elaborate as sky diving or as sime as going to a church of another faith. Exhilaration feeds our zest for life! Im so glad you chose this turn on your path.
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Your thoughts are spot on Cheryl! I’m glad I’m on this path with all of you.
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We are all in good company here.
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Nice post. I try not to ask myself ‘what if’ too many times. Sure there are negative life events that I might have avoided, but then I would have missed all the wonderful ones as well. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Thanks for sharing.
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Too many questions have answers we may not like.
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A wonderful post, Pam. Thanks to Dan for sending us followers your way.
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I am so pleased you came!
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Me, too!
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I almost didn’t click the link from dan’s blog – because quite frankly I don’t have the time to always explore new blogs the way I want to – and so have to bypass many of the suggested ones I come across –
But I took a moment to do so – went left perhaps – ha…
And glad I did
Because I believe wholeheartedly what you wrote about here –
Reminds me of the butterfly effect
– and the top example takeaway for me was the one where a young man saw a car that had him in awe and then he went on to have a business connected to it ….
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I am so pleased you turned left! I agree about the Butterfly Effect, I have always been fascinated by the concept.
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