Let's see what's behind Door Number 1

One of my favorite movies is Sliding Doors with Gwyneth Paltrow. For me “favorite” means I can remember the story line, the characters and I’d see it again. In a nutshell, the movie begins with Helen and her boyfriend. Helen leaves for work, he has another woman come over, you can imagine what happens next. Well, the plot then is Helen leaves work early after being fired and from here we see how her life unfolds from two different story lines, one is we see what happens when she misses her train and then again, what happens in her life when she makes her train – two different life paths depending on that simple circumstance which itself was determined by just mere seconds in time. How different her life would be if she would have got home on time (catching the bus) or if she misses the bus and thereby also misses out on finding the truth, which is, her boyfriend is cheating on her. Such an interesting storyline and it really reminds you of how every simple decision you make, action you take, or circumstances that are beyond our control, can change or affect our life in a very profound way. One of the highlights of this movie is the Scottish actor, John Hannah, who is so charming and so hilarious that you instantly or shortly after hearing a few of his lines, fall in love.

John Hannah

In a rather round about way, this all leads me to my new job. Have you ever noticed how life never really makes things simple? There are always choices and with those choices comes that struggle within ourselves of “are we doing the right thing, the best thing", etc. I received two job offers within two days. Both at art galleries. I ended up choosing the one that I thought would be the least stressful, provide the most opportunity to learn, chance to travel and really hone my sales skills. But in my mind I kept playing out what would happen differently if I took the other offer. I thought about the people I will meet (depending on which gallery I will work at) where I will travel, the experiences I will have, the friends and connections I will make and thought about how it will actually make a difference in my life. In my future – I saw my life like the character Helen in Sliding Doors – saw myself walking two entirely different paths and hoping that the one I was choosing would take me into a world of castles, good fairies, friendly talking squirrels, and not into some dark forest with houses made of brightly colored ribbon candy, old women with moles on their overly extended chins, and wolves in sheep’s clothing.

You really do have to think about these things you know. But once you’ve made the choice, you really should stop thinking about the “what ifs” – it doesn’t do anyone any good. So, I made my choice.
choice n. The act of choosing; selection. The power, right, or liberty to choose; option. Again I am reminded that it is me who is responsible for what happens in my own life.  I have the power/right to choose.  Even though I won't know the outcome, I still made the choice.  I guess that is what makes choosing so scary. It is like "door number 1, 2, or 3" - that is a whole lot of pressure!  Our one little life with so many choices, all of them leading to places unknown. Like walking a labyrinth, navigating sharp turns, not being able to see too far ahead, not knowing when you will reach the end and once at the end, what will be waiting.  Labyrinths are said to symbolically reveal two sides of the human spirit: complexity and simplicity; mystery and design; intuition and sensory experience. Interesting.

People say that if you knew what was going to happen in your life, if you could see your future, it might be so terrifying that some would just call it quits, jump off the bridge right now, some would become bored , and perhaps others might try desperately hard to make immediate changes.  All I know is that when presented with a fork in the road, I would be really like to be privy to a preview of what was on each plate.  It would just be so reassuring, so less nail biting. And it would have made life so much easier for Helen and James!