I grew up knowing that I had options. I also knew that choosing certain options would require work, but I had options. I had the option of working to put myself through college. I had the option of working hard to gain promotions. I had options on where I lived, what I did, and how I lived my life.
Recently I have realized that I have a new set of options. My husband has been retired for a couple of years. This has created time to do many things that we never could before or could not do very often. Financially, I could retire, too. This realization that I have new options has changed the way I view everything, especially on how I want to spend my time.
Professionally, there are many things that I still enjoy doing. But do I enjoy them more than the things I could do personally? The answer for many items has been, “No.” I’m working on finding a new balance between professional and personal. I’m not ready to completely retire but cutting back on some professional items has worked well.
What this has made me realize more than anything is the importance of knowing that we have options. If we don’t know we have options, we will never even investigate them, let alone do them. Knowing that we have options creates our future. Knowing that we can create options might be the first step in creating the life we want.
Are you aware of all the options open to you? Do you look for options or do you do what you have always done without even considering that something else might be possible?
