A closed windows let you see what is beyond your reach. Closed doors do not.
Closed windows still let you envision where you can go, while shut doors block your view and your path.
When windows open, they let fresh air in. When doors open, they let you out.
Windows of opportunity can provide you with the chance to see what’s possible, but you can’t get there until the door is open and you are ready to step through it.
Are you a viewer or a doer?
Most doors do not open themselves.
“Most failures are one-time costs. Most regrets are recurring costs.
The pain of inaction stings longer than the pain of incorrect action.
~ James Clear
When I look back on my life, I have very few regrets. I do not look back longingly, I look back fondly. I look at my mistakes as lessons, and my repeated mistakes as necessary because I wasn’t yet ready to learn the lesson. But when I do think of regrets, it is almost never for the things that I did, but rather the things that I did not do.
I regret not appreciating the outdoors enough on a beautiful day, not taking a photo, not spending more quality time with a lost friend or family member. I do not regret trying something challenging or new. Indecision or lack of action are far more likely to haunt me than a bad decision.
I remember reading once that this Shakespeare quote was wrong,
“A coward dies a thousand times before his death, but the valiant taste of death but once.”
In reality the hero confronts the same thousand deaths the coward does, except the hero actually faces them. Heroes are not ignorant of the same fears and worries of the coward, they just don’t cower at them.
“The pain of inaction stings longer than the pain of incorrect action.”
—–
We were cleaning out our garage on Sunday and my wife was sorting things for a garage sale.
She came across 2 home repair books I’ve used in the past and asked me if we should keep them. “Yes”, I said, remembering one of the book’s usefulness when replacing a toilet. Then “Actually no”, I said, remembering that I haven’t looked at either of those books in years, having gone instead to YouTube.
Just the day before, I couldn’t figure out how to remove an old-style door knob from our basement, and I watched a young boy on YouTube show me how… with his small hands and an off-camera voice that could not have been more than 12 years old.
We are so lucky to live in an era where learning something new is always within our reach. Not just home repair, but new skills and new approaches to the way we think, learn, work, and play.
What are you currently trying to do that you couldn’t do before? How are you expanding your horizons?
“If you only do what you can do, you’ll never be more than you are.” ~ Shifu, Kung Fu Panda 3
