A Simple Choice

Every morning, Ted rises at six in the morning.  He grabs his cup of coffee, makes some breakfast, and sits in front of the TV to see the news.  It’s the same themes, different faces and locations.  But Ted enjoys it.  It fills his empty home.

He dresses in his best shirt and pants for the day and gets in the car, ready to sit in traffic for an hour.  The entire time, he’s listening to the radio, wondering what his friends are doing, his family, and how anyone can manage to remain calm while they are sitting parked on I-95, day after day.  But still, Ted tells himself it’s okay.  He’ll be at work soon.

Except he gets to work and his boss is in, and he’s livid.  One of their projects got pushed up and their deadline is not next week but in three days.  Suddenly Ted finds himself with a massive amount of papers on his desk, a new deadline, and being asked to stay late, which means he has to cancel dinner plans with his mother.  For the third time in a row.

That’s when Ted sits back, just after nine in the morning, and looks out the window, full of bitterness and longing to be anywhere other than where he is right now.

Ted’s dreadful situation is not unique.  We have all been there.  We have put up with the grind, the 9-5, happy hours complaining to your friends to release the work day tension, and weekends for vacations that barely satisfy our need for adventure and new things.  We have become accustomed to the routine, but we don’t have to be.  Not if we are unhappy like Ted.  We can change it, if we really want to.

Here’s the hard truth.

Take a look at where you are in life right now.  Get a nice clear mental picture of everything: your job, your friends, your location, your family, your relationship, etc.  Now, picture what your life would be like in five years if none of that changed.  If your job remained the same, you stayed together with the same partner, etc.

Now, for the question, which only you can answer:

Do you like what that future looks like five years down the road?  

Only you know the answer to that, once you notice that immediate gut reaction you experience upon reading the previous statement.  Once you know the answer, you have a choice.

If you are satisfied, then so be it.  Continue to live your best life and rock it!  If you aren’t satisfied, then, what are you going to do about it?  Are you going to change, or are you going to sit back in your office chair five years from now, wishing you had?

Only you can decide.  Only you are accountable for your future potential.  It’s all entirely up to you.