Leaving the Labyrinth Behind
Leaving the Labyrinth Behind
After thinking about the path forward for too long, a decision has been made.
“To decide not to decide is to decide.”
—Harvey Cox
Have you ever found yourself delaying a decision?
A part of you knew exactly what you should do, but another kept finding ways to keep the debate alive — pondering options and wandering through the labyrinth in your mind. You shared your perspective and asked questions of others, searching for something, anything to make it easier to choose.
You did everything you could to make sure you understood the implications. You acknowledged the uncertainty and your feelings about the potential outcomes from making the choice you knew you should make. Yet, you kept kicking the can down the road because peace of mind was nowhere to be found.
From DepositPhotos.com
The brutal truth is deep inside you knew you exactly what you were doing. You just chose not to call yourself on your behavior. Something about continuing the game was serving you. You were not ready for it to end, perhaps because you knew where it would lead and you were just not ready to take the next step?
That is exactly what I realized last night sitting quietly at our fire pit watching the flames do their entrancing dance.
Fueled by the afterglow of watching 12 young people compete in the Delaware 4-H State Public Speaking Contest (which I have the privilege of sponsoring), I found myself recalling the five times I entered the contest, wrote the speech, rehearsed it in front of the mirror, then failed to go to the contest out of fear.
As I considered the commitment each speaker had made to their message, I realized it was time to commit to the decision I have been delaying. No more wasting energy overthinking, worrying, fretting. It is time to act.
With today’s issue, I fulfill my original commitment to myself for a two-month test of weekday issues. So I choose to celebrate my success and to reset my objective for the next phase — a test of publishing two issues each week:
A Tuesday morning issue covering the topic for the week.
A Friday morning issue sharing quotes related to the topic of the week.
Perhaps there will be an occasional special issue if the spirit moves me to write one.
Decision made. Commitment announced. Deliberation complete.
Three quick lessons…
By now you know I am drawn to sharing the lessons earned (not a typo, these were hard-earned lessons) from the journey and there are three here worth noting.
First, the process worked, once again. Defining a commitment to myself and following through was been a positive experience and based on feedback from readers it served them as well. I will take the win and continue to trust the path.
Second, the experience has finally taught me something I needed to learn for a while — we seldom need to create more content, but we always need to create and deliver content in the way the audience wants to consume it.
Finally, it has become clear from my experience in writing every day that there is more value in choosing a specific topic to create focus for the week versus coming up with one every day. If I was writing about things happening in the world, that would be different, but with an inform, involve, and inspire mindset, the variety is a distraction for both author and reader.
Those are my conclusions. I am going to trust the process and test the next phase with a commitment to inform you, to invite you to share your perspective, and to inspire us all to become the people we are here to be.
Today’s invitation…
I would love to hear your story of a time when you debated a decision a bit longer than you wish you had, or when you honored a commitment you made to yourself and celebrated your success in honoring it. Please click here to email me your story and share your insight?