Time to Decide

2009 saw the rebirth and reorganization of Gamoe.net as a blog, surely a momentous occasion for myself and the three two of you who follow this site. It was also the year I went back to school, a decision which was not so much one of "if?", but more of a "when?" and "what?" Although those are certainly important questions, experience has taught me that when it comes to choosing a path in life, making a decision-- no matter what it is-- is always the right course of action. Indecision leads to non-commitment, which leads to inaction, which is lack of movement, stagnation, a lack of progress towards any goal. Goals can be altered and redefined later, but stagnation is the possibly the worst possible condition in life. For a lack of movement is a lack of purpose as well.

Now that is no excuse for bad decision-making. That is a totally different matter altogether. Perhaps setting yourself on a life of crime isn't the best of decisions. Bad decisions can even get you killed. But so will time. And there are other components to movement in life. For example, I would find a life dedicated primarily to profit, or one unconcerned with goodness rather unfulfilling.

But the point is that making an active decision of what path you want to travel, rather than just riding along in a passenger's seat of your life, is up there with the most important and satisfying things in life, because it gives you movement and purpose, which in this case is one and the same. Movement without purpose is well, pointless. What are you moving towards? What do you wish to accomplish? There can be no true, coherent movement without purpose. Consider a person just splashing about in the water and a swimmer making her way across a lake. They might both expend the same amount of energy, but one gets somewhere, the other does not. And purpose without movement is nothing at all. Without movement, purpose cannot be fulfilled. Wishing for world peace is excellent, but if you do nothing to further it, it is merely an idea. Purpose is the direction of movement. Movement is the action of purpose.

The funny thing is, whether you succeed or fail to achieve your goals is actually not as important as the movement itself. Defining goals is essential in providing us with direction. But goals are only markers along the way. After all, some goals may extend beyond one's reach. So what? We all wind up dead anyway. Where you'll be buried is of little importance. What you did and how you lived your life is, on the other hand. This brings up a point about death helping to define us, but that's for some other article. The important thing is to decide, to move, to do. The only true failure is not to move, not to decide.

People often hold off on decisions indefinitely is because they don't want to make the wrong one. They don't want to be locked in to a choice they will regret in the future. Again, good decision-making is important, but that being said, I find that most often simply making a decision-- whichever one-- is better than holding off indefinitely. Even if you change your mind later, you'll probably be in a better position to do so than if you hadn't done anything in the first place.

I have always believed man is only truly happy after his needs are met when he is engaged in fulfilling his potential. When you have something inside your heart, you need to let it out, make it action, express it, develop it. But none of that can happen without a conscious decision. None of that can happen without movement. This seems rather obvious. But somehow, I always missed that part of the equation. And I think a lot of people do. Because of fear, generally. Fear of failing, mostly. And that is why I am writing this and putting up on the first of the year. Apart from being something I want to express, I figure it might serve somebody else as well. Don't be afraid. Decide. Do.

Now the only thing I can't decide is whether we should be saying two-thousand-and-ten or twenty-ten.

Happy 2010 (however you say it)!