Our weekend was more a little more low-key than usual because Vishnu was experiencing some back pain that didn’t want to go away. No worries though – he’s on the mend! Aside from volunteering on Saturday and running a few errands on Sunday, I honestly didn’t do too much. Not that I’m complaining!
While our weekend wasn’t filled with much activity, Vishnu and I did have a few interesting conversations. The one that really got me thinking was about my tendency to make decisions without fully exploring all my options.
It all started when Vishnu asked me to tell him about the event I volunteered at on Saturday. In a nutshell, I co-led a ‘how to pick the right college’ workshop for high school aged kids. In our small groups, we talked about the process of picking the right school, the different factors that go into the big decision, and how to prioritize and make sense of everything.
As I was telling Vishnu about the questions I was asked about my own experience, he made a perfectly legitimate point about how I didn’t really explore my options when applying to colleges and business schools. And he’s not wrong. For undergrad and business school, I only applied to in-state schools… mainly because of cost. I don’t regret my decisions because I still received a great education. However, Vishnu makes a valid point. I will never know if the Harvards of the world would have had me and worked with me on the cost issue. I assumed they wouldn’t. I didn’t even try.
Vishnu, on the other hand, has always been one to explore all his options, no matter how out of reach they seem. He believes in reaching for the stars and adjusting as you go. This is one of the many things I love about him. He always tries.
While I can’t change the past, I can definitely take this lesson into the future with me, especially when it comes to making decisions about my career. I honestly have no idea what the future holds in terms of where we’re moving next, when we’ll have kids, etc. But that doesn’t stop me from already limiting my options. For example, I constantly think about how I’m going to balance my career with kids. I’ve pretty much convinced myself that my career will have to take a backseat for a while because there’s no way I can manage both so I’ll probably have to work part-time, etc.
I now see how crazy this is and told Vishnu to remind me of our conversation when the time comes to make these decisions because I know I’ll need it!
Do you tend to limit yourself when making big decisions like me or do you reach for the stars and beyond like Vishnu?