Once upon a time, my fifth grade teacher approached me at the start of class and said, "Ian, there's a spelling bee tonight at Orcutt middle school and I want you to compete." I said I'd think on it, thought it wasn't something worth stressing over, and gave him a respectful no.
I look back at opportunities once offered to me and feel fortunate. Once upon a time there was an advisor, a counselor, a teacher, a parent, a friend, a teammate, a community who thought I had potential and went with me. They chose me. For reasons I'll likely never fully comprehend but am eternally thankful for, they chose me.
And looking back, I'll never regret the choice of taking something on. Regardless of how it fared. But I will regret the opposite. I'll always think of how I would've fared in the 5th grade spelling bee, or how close I'd be to my hs class if I had led that Kairos retreat, or how strong my faith community'd be if I SMT'd it w/ Newman, etc.
Opportunities to lead arise now unexpectedly, and I find myself saying yes to each of them regardless of how thinner each commitment makes me feel. If you're being called to do something... what the hell, why not do it?
If the time is now for me to see if I'm made for this, topmiddlebottom all of it, then let it be the time.
Gracias a Kristine para la cita inspirada:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” –Mark Twain
1 comment:
dang it...since when has your blog been in spanish? i got lucky this time. anyway, just wanted to say i totally understand. exactly one of the reasons why i was in the bay area this past weekend.
hope you're feeling better! next time, we have to hang out.
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