We often encounter conflicts of paths in our lives. Which one to choose? The pain and confusion are real for those who think, before making a move.
There are always two major choices for making almost every decision - one: the usual path, the general approach, the path on which most people are walking. Everyone is opting the engineering, you should take it too. And then there is another one, the second option - the road not taken. You could have followed your passion - learning music, painting, or traveling.
It can also be seen in some other ways. Suppose you decide to prepare for an examination. You start it loud but as time passes, you realize it won't be a piece of cake. You try harder but it seems your efforts are futile. You are not getting the results you think you should get. You spend hours preparing the notes, making schedules and ultimately putting your maximum into it but the results are not appreciable. Some of your well-wishers advise you to leave it and make yourself useful elsewhere while others advise you to try harder and not give up. You are now in a very fragile state. What decision should you make? Leave it or grind harder.
Sören Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher says, "Do it or don't do it. You will regret both." This is rather dubious than helpful. How can you make a decision if you are going to regret it ultimately? But if you ponder over this idea, you will find that there are indeed a handful of thoughts that you didn't regret taking. Interestingly, I believe there is no magical "The One" rule which can be applied to every situation.
Some months back, I got to read the book named "The midnight library" written by Matt Heig. In a nutshell, the book talks about how you can not have everything you want in your life. The protagonist finds herself stuck in a situation where she lives every alternate version of her life she ever imagined. I found that notion of leaving one thing for another very much helpful while making some precarious decisions. Yes, you will not make every correct decision, but at least you will know that this was the best shot I found under those circumstances. This will stop you from being harsh on yourself.
But if you can choose any option leaving the result to fate, thinking this was the best decision for me at that time, doesn't this put you in your previous "conflict of paths" situation? In both cases, you were unable to make a perfect decision. In my opinion, that's where your logical and cognitive abilities come into the picture. You must check every option with the utmost wit. Think about the possible pros and cons of each option but once you make a decision, try not to think about what your life could be if you have chosen the other option. This idea is simple and works fine for me but you are free to disagree as nothing in this world can be considered absolute. It is quite a possibility that I may find this approach of taking decisions stupid and wrong in the future but as of now, this is the best direction I can walk in.
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