I believe life is made of moments. We may not recognize them at the time, but the decisions we make every day open new doors and send us down the paths that shape our lives. Moments in time. Chance encounters. Decisions.
I was recently thinking back on the most important series of moments in my life. I had just turned down a job that would have taken me from my hometown in Massachusetts out to California. It wasn’t the right job. A friend of mine who had just broken up with her boyfriend wanted me to go to a party, and even though I wasn’t in the mood, I decided to go to be with her. While I was there, I happened to meet a guy named Gary. At the last minute, he had decided to go to the party with some friends. He didn’t really want to be there either. Turns out, he’d just been offered a job in Cincinnati. But he had turned it down. Wasn’t the right job. We talked and eventually started dating. Years later, Gary and I still think about the decisions we made that brought us together—the moments that changed our lives.
What’s interesting to me is that, even though we were young, we were both in tune with where we were in life and what we wanted. We were open to new adventures and new opportunities, but only if they were the right ones. Now, some choices end up being the “wrong” ones, no doubt. But life has a way of course-correcting and bringing us back to the path we’re meant to be on.
But I know a lot of people who hold themselves back because they’re afraid of the moment. They aren’t sure what’s on the other side of the door, so they don’t open it. But that’s how you miss opportunities. All the conversations we have, all the people we meet, the connections we make—they’re all moments. If you stay open and are aware of who you are and what you want, you won’t miss the opportunities.
That moment by Seth Godin
When you are sitting right on the edge of something daring and scary and creative and powerful and perhaps wonderful…and you blink and take a step back.
That’s the moment. The moment between you and remarkable. Most people blink. Most people get stuck.
All the hard work and preparation and daring and luck is nothing compared with the ability to not blink.
Life is made of moments. Don’t blink.
