Monday, May 21, 2012

A little bit of fate never hurt

Are you by any chance one of those people that has trouble making decisions? Do you often find that you don't take advantage of opportunities that are presented because you talk yourself out of it? I know I have been in the past, and sometimes I find myself falling back into old habits, but not lately.

Have you watched or heard of the movie "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey? It's obviously an extreme version of what I'd like to focus on today, but essentially he is a man that always says no to everything. After an extreme event he decides he is going to start saying yes to almost everything and seeing where life leads him. It's basically an analogy for taking your hands off the "steering wheel of life". I thought it was an interesting take on the subject and obviously quite entertaining, but the part I truly enjoyed was the message behind it. For me that message was pretty simple, "nothing ventured, nothing gained".

In my life I have incorporated a little bit of the "Yes Man" mentality, only with a small twist. I do my very best to just say yes to several things that I may have hesitated about, or not even considered in the past, but when I am really stuck I pull out my good old quarter. Yup you heard correct, it's my way of letting "fate" decide. "Heads I'm going to do it, tales I'm not." I can't tell you how much easier making a decision becomes when you allow it to be determined by a coin toss. Obviously one of the rules is once you flip the coin you must be bound by its results or you are tempting fate. I can only imagine the inconsistencies and results if I was to flip the coin, see the results, and then choose to go against it? That sounds truly crazy to me.

I have used the coin flip many times over the course of my life, but definitely in the last year or two since I began this next chapter of my journey, I have taken full advantage of my coin toss. Easily more than 100 times I have struggled with a decision, pulled out my quarter, and regardless what the result was I went with it. If nothing else the serenity I feel is incredible. Once the coin is flipped, the decision will be made! There is no point worrying about it from that point on. It has helped me tremendously and I believe it could help you to.

I know there will be some people that think this is absurd or crazy, but maybe its just not for you. I don't base monumental decisions on a coin toss, but when I have a decision to make that could go either way, I find it to be the simplest way to get closure and move on to the next item. Getting stuck in any situation is not positive, so anything that can help alleviate that, I'm all for it. Making decisions can be stressful, flipping a coin to determine that choice is not so stressful.

Last night is a perfect example and the reason for this blog. I had been contacted by an old friend and she invited me to the city for an evening on the town to catch up. I hadn't seen her in a while, my stupid analytical brain started to do its usual thing (thinking of way to many reasons why the night would not be a good thing), it was a bit of a drive, and I'm a bit of a procrastinator. Without fail, as has been the case many times over recent months, I pulled out my trusty quarter and decided to let fate have the last word. Once again, as has been the case over recent months, I am so glad I did. When I lifted my hand to reveal the "heads" side showing, a large smile came over my face and I decided I had better go get ready to meet my friend.

I had such an incredible evening I can't even begin to describe how thankful I was for the coin flip of fate, and even more so its results. I had no idea my friend and I had so much in common, and the conversation and social aspect was very fulfilling. The bar hopping didn't hurt either and it felt really nice to just cut loose for a little while and have an evening with a woman that had no awkwardness to it whatsoever. So the moral of today's story is maybe try saying yes a little more, maybe try going against the grain for a change. Maybe just maybe if you struggle to make a decision, you'll incorporate the coin flip of fate, I know it has done wonders for me.

Please leave comments and feedback as it's always welcomed and invited!

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