Set your own path

Understand that the right to choose your own path is a sacred privilege. Use it. Dwell in possibility."  Oprah Winfrey

Really!? An Oprah quote! Come on!

This is what most people who know me would say if they were reading my blog. (Are any of you out there?) My Mum would definitely be rolling her eyes and tsk-tsking me. (But I don't have to worry about that because she refused to learn to use the computer. A blog topic for another day.) I often teased her that she got her philosophy degree from the University of Oprah. She, my mother not Oprah, would often espouse Oprah's perspectives and doctrines at me, usually when I had done something she didn't agree with. But when I read this quote it really struck a cord in me.

One thing that makes me crazy are people who dwell on what could have been rather than focusing on what could be; talking about the decision(s) you made 1, 2, 10, or even 20 years ago, and how everything since then has sucked. You know these conversations, they usually start with "Only if I ..." or "I wish I had ...". Get over it already. Today is today, and you can't get back yesterday, and if you spend all of today thinking about yesterday instead of enjoying it and planning for what you want to achieve tomorrow then you will have wasted yet another day.

Harsh? Perhaps. (Rarely am I accused of being too subtle.) But having the ability to choose my own path is something that I try very hard not to take for granted. That is not to say that I never fall into the pit of self-wallowing. We all do. But the pits I fall into tend to be shallow and narrow, and I fill them in as quickly as I can so that I can move on to my next goal. Speaking of which; does anyone have words of wisdom to share on reupholstering a couch?