Finding Confidence in Your Decisions
Hello, friends!
Another week means more decisions, and hopefully, if you are taking the time to read this week’s blog, it means you are a returning reader and will recall the challenge that I left you with just two weeks ago.
Our lives are filled with big decisions; what type of car should I buy, should I go to college, what college should I attend, whether to take that job – you get my point. Each of these decisions could take us on an entirely different path which can feel pretty overwhelming.
In my last blog, I challenged you all to think about a few things:
Think of a time you’ve changed your mind in either your personal or professional life. Do you regret changing your mind? Think about how things would have turned out if you didn’t change your mind in that instance. Would you be where you are now? Would you have accomplished what you have so far if you hadn’t changed your mind?
As you think about some of these questions, I will share a bit of a personal story to help put this into some perspectives.
I spent a tremendous amount of time (and my parents’ money) trying to determine which college I wanted to attend after high school and up until about a few months before classes were getting ready to start, I was 100% committed to New England College in New Hampshire. The deposits were paid, and my schedule was set - I was ready to go. But as reality began to set in on leaving home and deciding what I wanted to do, I made the difficult decision to enroll at my local college rather than head off to New England College.
I will leave out all the details of everything that happened between the time I decided to pursue college closer to home rather than moving away because that could be an entire book. What I will say, is that a few years later, I found myself thinking that maybe I made the wrong decision, and feelings of regret started to trickle their way into my thoughts.
We all have thoughts of regret trickle in sometimes, but I am a firm believer in becoming confident in our decisions and not letting regret cloud our confidence and ability to move forward.
If I had attended New England College, there is a strong possibility that I would not have found my way back to the Green Mountains of Vermont, nor would I have the friends I met along the way. I probably would not have had the jobs, career growth, and incredible colleagues if I had not made this decision. And most importantly, I don’t think I would have found my way to my partner, Matt, and built this life together.
It may have taken me a long time to become confident in my decision and stop having those thoughts of regret, but I know wholeheartedly that attending college locally was absolutely the right decision for me.
Finding confidence in our decisions can be challenging but it is so important to move forward. As soon as I began listing out the amazing things in my life that I most likely would not have if I had chosen a different path, the confidence became so clear.
While I have used choosing a college as part of my story today, we need to find this confidence in all our decisions (both personally and professionally) we feel like we maybe should have done a little differently. I could make a long list of things that I probably should have done differently, but I’ll spare you the lengthy list. With each of these decisions, I have had to work hard in finding the confidence to convince myself that they happened for a reason and that it was the right choice for me at that moment. For many of these, the confidence took longer to find than others. Every one of the choices I have made through my life has led me to where I am today, and for that, I am forever grateful.
The way we look at life changes as we go through new experiences and try new things. So naturally, we may realize that the decision we made for something ten years ago may have an entirely different outlook on now – and that’s okay. The most important thing is that we understand that the decision we made was the right one for you as an individual at the time you were faced with the option.
So, your challenge for this time around. Think of a time in your past where you needed to make a big decision and that if you were given the same options now, you would have chosen an entirely different path because the experiences you have gained in life made you think just a little bit differently.
The most important thing we can do in life is to be our best self and a huge piece of that is self-confidence in all that we do.
Having a hard time finding that confidence in your decision in life? Let’s talk!