Life is long. But compared to how long the planet has been around, life is pretty short. And once you factor in the amount of time we spend sleeping, our time here on earth is like a single drop of water in the ocean.
I have been wasting my life. I struggle with fear and I struggle with indecisiveness. It has always been a matter of either sticking with what I know or trying something new. But I believe in saying yes. I believe in new experiences. I believe in giving things a shot.
There are fears that sometimes come along with trying new things. What if I don’t like it? What if it doesn’t turn out the way I want it to? What if I have the wrong impression? I’ve always told others it is better to try and get a negative outcome than it is to not try at all and to be left wondering what could have happened. Who knows what could happen? No one will until you try.
My friend Jackie and I see each other almost everyday. Most times, we go through the same routine. Where do we want to eat? What do we want to do? Where do we want to go? And we always give each other the same answer. I don’t know. Where do you want to eat? What do you want to do? Where do you want to go? The time we spend telling each other, “I don’t know,” and waiting for the other to decide is time well wasted. Sometimes I’ll flip a coin to make my decisions. I’m that indecisive. But I decided to leave that life behind.
As soon as I came back to school from winter break, the first person to contact me was Jackie.
“Hey, do you want to meet up for lunch?”
Of course! I was starving and I haven’t seen her for three weeks. It was time for a reunion. As usual, the first question to pop up was, “Where do we want to eat?” We knew the answer to our question would be somewhere on College Avenue. We walked until we found a restaurant that we’ve always wanted to try but never tried.
The key words: never tried. But we still ended up in the same predicament.
“Should we eat here?” Jackie asked me. “I don’t know,” I replied.
After two minutes of standing outside the Tavern, I realized this was my chance to finally say yes and to follow through with it without any regrets. “Yes,” I said. “Let’s do it.” We walked inside.
It was the best, and the only, brunch buffet we have ever had. We left the Tavern pleased and we decided that on the first Sunday of every month, well will be having brunch at the Tavern on College Avenue.
I believe in saying yes to new experiences. I’ve never been close-minded, but I usually don’t give myself the chance to, figuratively, explore unexplored territories. Now is as good a time as ever for me to change things around. I don’t need to be indecisive anymore. I can easily make decisions by saying yes to something new. I have already started and my goal is to keep it up. I’m having a very happy year so far.