How to know you’re on the right path

Thoughts on making choices in life.

As a child, my parents gave me a lot of freedom to make my own choices. I was never told what to wear, what to eat or what sports to participate in. I learned from an early age that my choices have consequences (sadly still paying for some of the fashion choices I made in the past).

My life choices were based on weighing all the options and consequences and deciding on what would be the best possible outcome. Mind over heart. For the mind controls what the heart feels. Choices become clearer if you take emotions out of the picture. This was how and why I chose my life’s path that led me to the person I am today. I decided against a career as a dancer, because I knew how hard a dancer’s life is. I ended relationships when it became too inconvenient. I chose to study design based on process of elimination.

It sounds heartless, but my life didn’t turn out all that bad. I grew to love design and excelled in college. After graduating, I started working full time as a UX Designer. For the first time, I had a stable income.

I began asking myself what my next goal, but was having trouble finding what I was passionate about. Through the years, I have disregarded my passion in favor of “smarter” choices. At a colleague’s farewell party, I started talking to one of the CEO’s about my method of decision making and how I don’t follow my heart. He told me about a book called, The Flow, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and said that if I continue down the same path, I’m not really living. After that night, I looked back on the things I could’ve done, but didn’t do because my mind told me to do something else.

Life is a collection of memories and it is all that you will be left with in the end. Someone said to me that you don’t always remember the things you do, but you’ll remember the things you didn’t do. Regret goes a long way.

You don’t want to look back at a life full of regrets.

I decided to quit my job after admitting that my heart wasn’t in it. I don’t have a clear plan of what’s next. My mind is still filled with jumbled bits and pieces that I’m sure will eventually fall together. A lot of people have told me I’m courageous for doing it. I don’t think I am. There is nothing to fear when it feels so right.

Everyday is my chance to create memories I want to remember.