“Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever” (Keri Russell)

Have you ever experienced this? It might take some time to recognize that there were little decisions in your life that changed its course, but I imagine that if you think about it long enough, you’ll see that it’s true.

One day when I was still in Virginia, I was working in DC and there was a snow storm starting. I asked my boss if I could leave early since I had a 60 mile drive. He said “no” because we were having some sort of class or lecture. I was not a happy camper. It took me 8 hours to get home that day because I-95 was closed due to a 100 car pile-up (yes, that is 100 cars). Was I upset? Not at all because I realized that had I left when I wanted to, I would have been right smack in the middle of the pile-up. That would not have been good. But it was a small decision by my boss that saved my day (and maybe saved even more than that).

Even funnier is that I chose to join the military to pay my tuition for medical school. That was not a small decision. But the reason I joined the Navy over the other services surely was a small decision. I liked the uniforms! Seriously, that’s the reason my friend and I picked the Navy. The recruiters didn’t tell us squat to help us make any other kind of decision. In fact, had they told us more, I would have joined the Army because then I could have gone to Viet Nam and done the work I wanted to. In the Navy I couldn’t do that because I was a woman.  However, I will tell you that joining the Navy was the best thing that ever happened to me. Even though I joined for two years and that’s really all I intended to stay for, 30 years later I was retiring with a really great career and life behind me. All because of the uniforms!

Go back through your life and examine the things that have happened to you. What led up to those events? Can you find some small decision that led you down that particular path?

As your life continues, do not demean the small decisions you are being asked to make. What seems small now may not be small in the long run.

Pay attention and investigate the past. It will be a fun exercise to do. We all need a bit of fun right?

Terrie