#SAReads discussion

In the first chapter, Shackel writes, "It has been said that in our moments of decision, our destiny is determined."

Can you think of a time when a decision has impacted your destiny?Five Seconds At A Time

My decision to become a Fine Arts major and use those years to explore my creative ability lead to areas I would have never dabbled in at any other point of my life. Destiny, I owe you.

As a struggling pre-med student, I made the decision to leave my program and start over at another school, in a different program, 1600km away. Had I not made that decision, I never would have been introduced to the wonderful world of Student Affairs, and I wouldn't be doing work today that both challenges and inspires me.

During the internet start-up boom in the late 1990's, I was very close to going to the Philippines for 1 year to open and manage a branch for our start-up company. However, as tempting as it was to take that route given the potential for money to be made, I decided not to go. Call me romantic or pragmatic, but the thought of being in a long-distance relationship with my girlfriend, now my wife, was just too big a factor for me to leave. I'm glad I made that decision. A few months after that decision, our funding dried up due to the stock marker crash, and our company dissolved.

As is usual for me, I have a hard time pinpointing just one decision I made that impacted my destination, but instead I feel like there are several different points in my life where things could have gone one way or another based on the decision I made: choosing to stay at my alma mater for grad school (b/c of a guy, no less - ick), turning down a job offer for the mere chance of an interview elsewhere, choosing to get back into housing, etc. Maybe they had smaller impacts on my long-term destiny, but I can almost see the different paths branching out from each of these decisions.