In your professional and private life, we will all face a turning point. When our lives change, our lives move down a different path. Some paths we are forced down, these are beyond our control. Bereavement is one such turning point in our lives. On Monday, I reached another turning point, but this time it was a different turning point, it was a junction which I had been at before.
A decision had been made in the past and I turned one way, but was persuaded to make a u-turn and to turn back. Significant efforts were made to ensure that I was never at this junction, but here I am, deciding which way to turn. I am not alone, many people will be facing such decisions whilst reading this.
Thinking about the decision takes over your life. You cannot sleep, you want to continue down the road, but you need to consider your own health, your own well-being. Everyone will always look after themselves, their families and their loved ones. But when we have a responsibility that we have committed ourselves to, do we continue or do we stop?
When you have put years of effort into a project and you have committed thousands of hours of your time, it is difficult to stop and not play any further part, but you must think of your health, your family and the effects it has every day.
We all put ourselves in situations that we later wonder why we do it, but we continue down the path. Sometimes the direction we take is correct, sometimes it is not. The decision is ours.
My position is one of responsibility, one in which people are relying on me, and to let them down by stopping and not pursuing down the current path. The situation is one which is within my control, I can make the decision. It is a hard decision, but one which I must take.
One turn will lead to disappointment by many and will lead to a major change in my life, the other will lead to the current situation continuing, but will benefit the people I am representing. It is a hard choice, one which cannot be taken lightly.
Everyone of us has had to make these decisions, resigning from a job, leaving a partner, moving across the world, these decisions are being considered every minute of every day. I am one of the lucky ones who can make the decision, some have the decision made for them and it is imposed on them.
Unfortunately, promises made have not been fulfilled, the circumstances for the u-turn have changed and the junction now looks very different to when it did 6 months ago. There are more aspects to consider, more people now involved, but the decision now needs to be the right one, this junction cannot be revisited again.
The best way to take this decision is to take time to consider it, take yourself out of the situation, analyse it and practice the 'Halt2Proceed' method. This is something that I am doing right now and will be for the next two days. Considering the people involved, the consequences of the decision, the best way forward and the best way to proceed.
Any decision you make will change your life, no matter how small. We all make decisions that we regret and we make decisions which turn out exactly as we want them. Small decisions can turn out to be the best decisions and can have a profound impact on our lives, but we have to be brave and take them.
This decision is mine to make, it is a very hard one, a very large one, but one I will have to live with. Who knows if it will be the right one, it may turn out in the long run to be the correct one, it may not, but if I could see into the future, I would be looking for the lottery numbers!