Laying “What If” to rest… Lately I’ve been trying to figure out my next move in life.  The past 12 years its been music and playing in a band and I focused 90% of my career efforts on that goal.  Recently I decided this goal wasn’t what I truly wanted anymore so I walked away.  Having almost half my life dedicated to this one thing, I’ve had a little trouble coming up with what’s next.  So, I decided to take a step back and try and figure out what was causing me to experience this and every thought always came back to the same phrase… “what if”?  What if I get a new job and I don’t like it then I’m stuck…What if I try and start my own business but it doesn’t work out…What if I take a direction that has nothing to do with music and regret leaving all together? Finally, I asked myself, “what if I tell myself to shut the hell up and stop worrying about what if and go for it and see where it takes me?”.  I finally realized that the “what ifs” were taking over my thought process, my motivation, my drive and even my creativity.  The crazy thing is though, I have no idea if any of it will happen, none of us do.  But there’s only one way to find out… Recently a good buddy of mine that I have been friends with forever told me a good what if story.  He is an avid poker player and I’m sure if he could would do it full time.  He was in a poker tournament that could potentially qualify him for the World Series of poker.  It had come down to him and one other player to determine the winner.  He was dealt pocket Aces and was ecstatic.  Obviously he played aggresively on the hand and ended up losing on the River to KQ off suit when the guy caught a second pair.  My buddy was mortified!  He had done everything right and lost on the very last card of the tournament.  What if he had won that hand and gone to the World Series of Poker and won the whole thing?  What if, what if, what if?  It was driving him crazy to the point he didn’t enjoy playing poker because he was worried it always make him feel like this.  But the more and more he thought about it he realized there was nothing he could do to change the outcome and worrying about “what if” was only making him feel worse.  So he swallowed his pride, got back on that horse and kept chasing the dream! The point of the story is we are not able to control every outcome in life.  But the more we sit around worrying about what might happen or what might have happened if… the less risks we take to achieve true happiness.  Risks are what make life exciting and give people character.  Risks build empires, inspire stories that are told for generations, put man on the moon and CPAs in the World Series of Poker. Now I’m not saying people that don’t take risks don’t have character.  I know plenty of people who are comfortable where they are and have gotten there with out taking risks and I’m so very happy for them.  But if you’re not happy where you are or with what you’re doing and there is something you can do about it, don’t let the fear of “what if” stop you from going for it.  I can’t tell you what’s next for me, but I can tell you “what if” isn’t going to make the decision for me. As always, I live, I love, I am… -SP

Laying “What If” to rest…

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out my next move in life.  The past 12 years its been music and playing in a band and I focused 90% of my career efforts on that goal.  Recently I decided this goal wasn’t what I truly wanted anymore so I walked away.  Having almost half my life dedicated to this one thing, I’ve had a little trouble coming up with what’s next.  So, I decided to take a step back and try and figure out what was causing me to experience this and every thought always came back to the same phrase… “what if”? 

What if I get a new job and I don’t like it then I’m stuck…What if I try and start my own business but it doesn’t work out…What if I take a direction that has nothing to do with music and regret leaving all together?

Finally, I asked myself, “what if I tell myself to shut the hell up and stop worrying about what if and go for it and see where it takes me?”.  I finally realized that the “what ifs” were taking over my thought process, my motivation, my drive and even my creativity.  The crazy thing is though, I have no idea if any of it will happen, none of us do.  But there’s only one way to find out…

Recently a good buddy of mine that I have been friends with forever told me a good what if story.  He is an avid poker player and I’m sure if he could would do it full time.  He was in a poker tournament that could potentially qualify him for the World Series of poker.  It had come down to him and one other player to determine the winner.  He was dealt pocket Aces and was ecstatic.  Obviously he played aggresively on the hand and ended up losing on the River to KQ off suit when the guy caught a second pair.  My buddy was mortified!  He had done everything right and lost on the very last card of the tournament.  What if he had won that hand and gone to the World Series of Poker and won the whole thing?  What if, what if, what if?  It was driving him crazy to the point he didn’t enjoy playing poker because he was worried it always make him feel like this.  But the more and more he thought about it he realized there was nothing he could do to change the outcome and worrying about “what if” was only making him feel worse.  So he swallowed his pride, got back on that horse and kept chasing the dream!

The point of the story is we are not able to control every outcome in life.  But the more we sit around worrying about what might happen or what might have happened if… the less risks we take to achieve true happiness.  Risks are what make life exciting and give people character.  Risks build empires, inspire stories that are told for generations, put man on the moon and CPAs in the World Series of Poker.

Now I’m not saying people that don’t take risks don’t have character.  I know plenty of people who are comfortable where they are and have gotten there with out taking risks and I’m so very happy for them.  But if you’re not happy where you are or with what you’re doing and there is something you can do about it, don’t let the fear of “what if” stop you from going for it.  I can’t tell you what’s next for me, but I can tell you “what if” isn’t going to make the decision for me.

As always, I live, I love, I am…

-SP