This is your sign to not let the one opportunity pass you by.
This talk has come to me because I'm realizing on multiple occasions that I've,
Well,
I've missed my one chance at release,
At connection,
At experience.
Because I held on to this idea that it will happen again,
That I can wait,
That an opportunity will come once more.
And you know,
Life tends to throw up opportunities over and over again,
But sometimes,
And in some ways,
It doesn't.
And I can't help but feel like I've lost something by not acting.
There's a few examples of this,
And they're small,
But poignant,
And things that I now regret.
And this feeling of regret is going to cause me to be more proactive,
More assertive,
And really embrace the moments when they come,
To notice the fear that arises,
To notice the hesitation that comes,
And to push through.
There are a few different moments.
One came years and years ago,
When I'd lost my pet,
My cat.
She passed away,
And I was going for a walk in the neighborhood,
And a random neighborhood cat came out and started,
You know,
Rubbing by my feet.
And it just so happened that this cat was almost identical to the cat that passed.
Same look,
Same color,
Same feel.
I gave the cat a little bit of a pat,
And was sort of shocked and overwhelmed by its appearance.
And I said to myself,
I'm busy now.
I'll come back.
I will pat this random cat again.
Then I will grieve.
Then I will release.
Then I will use this to,
You know,
Spiritually reconnect with the pet that I just lost.
And of course,
When I returned to that day,
When I came back later times,
Multiple times,
That random cat,
Neighborhood cat,
Never reappeared.
Rather than embracing the moment,
Rather than sitting for five minutes,
Rather than allowing myself to cry,
To grieve,
To feel,
To heal,
I moved on out of fear,
Or out of a misplaced sense of obligation.
I could have been a bit late.
It wouldn't have mattered.
And in fact,
Had I have come,
Having processed some of that loss,
I would have been a better person for it.
But that opportunity is gone,
Because I didn't act.
There was another moment when I was out with a friend,
And a stranger caught my eye.
And I remember being interested,
Being curious,
Having the impulse to go over and say hi,
To introduce myself.
But I didn't.
Instead,
I kept chatting to my friend,
And I missed the opportunity.
My friend would have been okay,
Would have been fine by themselves,
And would have in fact encouraged me,
Had they have known.
But once again,
I didn't take the action.
I didn't step.
I wasn't brave.
And now forever,
I am left with that question,
With the unknown,
With the feeling of unresolved action.
Next time,
I will act decisively.
Another opportunity came around that I missed,
Of a band that I saw live 20 years ago.
I heard they broke up.
I heard that they no longer performed.
But then by chance,
I saw that they were performing live again.
A final tour,
So to speak.
And rather than taking action,
And grabbing a ticket,
And seeing them once more,
The thought popped into my mind,
It'll happen again.
They'll tour again.
Do it next time.
You're busy.
It's too expensive.
It's not the right time.
So I let the opportunity pass me by.
Now I don't know if they're going to tour again,
But perhaps I've missed out.
Once again,
I regret not taking action.
And the final part of this comes from my children.
Again and again and again,
I'm noticing that it's the last time.
As they get older,
You know,
There's different things that you do with your children.
You help them in different ways.
You hug them.
You connect with them.
You play with them.
But the older they get,
The different things they want,
Different things they need,
And the different things they do with you.
Maybe there will be a time where it's the last time I carry them on my back,
Or I throw them in the air and they spin and laugh and joy,
Or indeed hug them.
I'm hyper aware that at some stage it will be the last time,
And I won't even necessarily know it.
So I'm doing my best to be there in the moment,
To say yes,
To play,
To connect,
To share.
But I'm still worried.
I'm still worried that this attitude,
This lack of decisiveness,
This belief that I can push it back another day,
Kick the can down the road,
Will cause me to miss out.
It's like,
No,
Sorry,
Son,
I'm busy.
I've got this other thing to do.
I'll do it later.
But one day that later won't come,
And one day I will realize that I missed the last day.
So yes,
This talk is a little bit depressive.
Yes,
It's a little bit,
Quite a lot full of regret,
But it's a reminder to me and maybe perhaps to you to take action,
To step forward and to do what needs to be done.
You know,
Me with my cat,
I should have taken the opportunity to release,
But I was afraid to feel those feelings.
With that person that I was curious to introduce myself to,
I was also afraid and I let those fears overwhelm me.
With the band,
I just put it aside.
There'll always be another time.
I couldn't justify just,
You know,
Going to a live music show.
It's too much to do,
Too serious,
Life's happening.
And with my kids,
Well,
They're always there,
Right?
They're always wanting more from me.
Well,
Yeah,
But one day they won't be.
One day they'll move out.
One day things will change.
So I guess moving forward,
I'm going to take action.
I'm going to connect.
I'm going to do despite fear,
And I hope to encourage you to do the same.
And so with that in mind,
I want to leave you with a question.
What thing has popped up during this talk that you need to do,
That you know you should do,
That you know that if you don't do,
You will regret,
That you know that if you,
That you know that if you don't do,
You will regret?
Perhaps you should go do it.
Catch ya.
