Have all the colleges closed?

One of the most redundant statements I hear on a regular basis is, “I’ve always wanted to…”

You can fill in the blank with anything you can think of.

I was talking to a friend the other day about the book I’m currently writing. At some point in the conversation he said, “I always wanted to take a writing class.” The first thing I wondered was if I had miraculously missed the memo saying all the colleges, and anywhere else offering writing classes, had closed. Does no one provide education past the age of 22 anymore? Once we graduate from college are we no longer allowed to take any continuing education? Is it a one shot deal, and once we stop going to classes that's it?

“I was gonna go to college.” “I always wanted to take a writing class.” “I should take CPR.” Well then, but what?! Life got in the way? Isn’t what you always wanted to do, or what you know you should do, a part of life?

Then there’s the guy who say’s someone is lucky to live in San Diego, or Carmel, California. Why is someone lucky? You can pick wherever you want to live! You live in the place you want, and you’re doing what you want, because the choices you’ve made have placed you in the position you are currently in, for better or for worse. And the choices you’ve made are what you want to do whether you admit it or not - because we all do what we want to do. We may know we need to make certain choices for a certain outcome, but the choices we make are the ones we want to make.

All actions have consequences. We all get to choose our actions, but we don’t get to choose the consequences. This doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter what actions we take. It means that there are smart actions and dumb actions.

You can make the choice to murder someone, but it will be a jury, not you, choosing the consequence. You can make the choice to travel 70 mph down a residential area in a neighborhood, but you don’t get to choose how it will end. You can choose not to go to work tomorrow, but you don’t get to choose whether or not you have a job the following day.

There are a lot of people with regrets because they would have made different choices had life not gotten in the way. There are a lot of people who could have done something different with their life if only they had better circumstances. There are a lot of people who die knowing they should have made different decisions.

Wouldn’t your life be more enjoyable if you actually did the things you’ve wanted to do? What’s stopping you? You! The only person you need permission from is yourself.

Are you a ‘woulda, coulda, shoulda’ kind of person? Or are you going to live the life you want, with no regrets?