Choices and Changes

I'm not exactly sure how to start this post. I know what I want to say, but not how to begin. I guess I should start by saying that everything I'm about to tell you is probably hypocritical. I will not do about 95% of what I'm saying. Eventually, I will, but for now, I'm telling you what I know. I may not be smart enough to take to my own advice, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't. Just because I can live up to what I'm saying doesn't mean you can't. So, on that note, let's start.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

You've probably heard this, or at least heard of this at least once in your life. What's above is the last stanza of Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken". We were reading this in English class, and comparing it to the book we're currently reading. But before we read it, our substitute gave us a brief description of what the entire poem is believed to mean. She basically said that the poem was about being an individual, making your own choices, non-conformity, etcetera, but I personally think that it means something similar, but also completely different. In my opinion, it's about making choices, both good and bad, and how they can affect your life in the greatest or smallest way. It never said in the poem that the "difference" was a good one. He never said if the choice he made was the right one. All he did was choose one of the roads, and it made all the difference in his life. That brings me to today/tonight's topic/s: choices, changes, and dealing with them.

I've been a bit overusing a certain saying that I find quite interesting. It's not a common phrase, but you've probably heard it before. It has five words. Anyway, I've been somewhat overusing it in everyday things and situations, while it has a much deeper meaning than what it's commonly used for. It basically means, "Things are the way things are. You can't change them, so don't try, and don't mope, because that won't help."

When you make a decision, whether it be uneducated or not, it's still a choice you had to make. It could be a bad choice, or a good choice. The outcome could be good or bad. The outcome could potentially change your life, point of view, or way of thinking. What you have to do is hope for a good outcome, and if it isn't, make the best of it. Learn what you can, and put it behind you. You can temporarily be sad, or depressed, but you can't go back in time and change it. You can't fix what you've done. And sitting there moping isn't going to help you fix it either. At the most, moping can only get you sympathy, or advice. It takes you, and your initiative to get up and take that advice. Instead of complaining about the things you can't change, try to fix the things you can. It'll do you a lot more than whining and making it worse for yourself. And after things have changed for you, don't dwell on the past. As Lyndon B. Johnson said, "We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it." Everything is for a reason. You can't change it. Just make it better for yourself.

So, take whatever road or path you want. Look at it first, or don't. Just don't complain when the worst is handed to you, and be grateful if the best is. Make the best out of the worst, change your direction, and move forward, with something new that you've learned. There's nothing you can change except your own view on it. After all,

It is what it is.