My last couple of posts were about halting
negative thought processes. A simple decision to take those thoughts captive
has the potential to make a huge impact on your life. A new beginning. Other
decisions will have greater or less of an influence on your life direction, but
an influence nonetheless. I remember those adventure books where at the end of
a chapter you had a choice to make such as “Turn left down the dark alley or
continue straight along the well lit path?” Depending on your choice you were
directed to a different chapter with a different outcome. The great thing was
that you could go back and change your decision if the outcome wasn’t what you
hoped for. You could also read both options to check and see how both decisions
would turn out.
Unfortunately with life, we are limited to
only seeing the outcome of one decision and only after you have committed to it.
You cannot go back to the previous chapter, pretend nothing happened and do it
over again. Once the decision is made, work at every obstacle or frustration
and turn the outcome into the best it could possibly be. Sometimes, it is going
to be the wrong decision with an unfavourable outcome. Make the best of what
you have learnt from it and make another decision to move forward again.
Even seemingly arbitrary decisions can have
a profound impact. My personal experience of that was a simple choice one
morning, three years ago, whether to do my training ride or not, considering I
was running late. Needless to say, I chose the discipline route of sticking to
the program and not heeding that small voice telling me to take the car to
work. The result of that decision put me in ICU for almost two weeks and a long
period of recovery. To date, I still have no recollection of what happened.
Would my life be different if I had decided
to use the car that morning? I would say absolutely, without a doubt, “Yes”.
Can I change that now? Of course not, so I must make the most of current
position and take everything I learnt from that experience and use it to
improve myself and hopefully improve the world around me.
Another decision of greater magnitude which
I made during that time in ICU was whether to keep fighting to live or just give
up. I prayed to God and asked Him to take me out of that situation of pain, discomfort
and immense frustration. That day, my wife had placed a newspaper article of
the accident, at the foot of my hospital bed and the photo used in the article was
me with my two sons. At the point of me giving up, my boys in the photograph ‘spoke’
to me. Some may say it was the drugs, but I believe it was much more than just
an induced hallucination. “Daddy, you can’t go now. We need you.” Those words
echoed in my swollen brain and right then, I decided I was getting my life back
and started a miraculous recovery. Definitely a decision for a new beginning.
Conversations during follow-up visits to
the surgeons and doctors after being discharged, emphasised how close I was to
dying as they had given me slim odds of pulling through. Some even called me their
“Miracle patient”.
Maybe it was the power of human spirit and
determination that got me through? I believe that God was right there with me
and His hand was doing the healing in my body.
My lesson learnt from that whole experience,
is that I am loved immensely. More than I ever realised. My family and friends
were amazing during the hospital stay and during my recovery.
I have also realised that I am here on this
earth, in this particular place, at this precise time, for a reason. Not by
chance, fate or random sequence of events. I have a purpose and I will live
every day trying to fulfil that purpose. The full scope of my mission is not
clear, but as long as I am working towards what I do know, the rest will be
revealed in due course.
Why have I shared all of this with you?
Firstly the impact of making decisions.
Consider all your decisions carefully as you never realise what impact they
could have.
Secondly, I believe we all have a
significant purpose to fulfil. I’d rather you realise that without having to go
through some traumatic incident. If you haven’t done so already, decide to
believe in yourself as unique and specifically created with a purpose in mind. Believing
that without a doubt, would truly be a new beginning for you. Take up the
challenge to discover your mission and embark on a journey of doing remarkable
things.
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