So many Choices
Life is a continuing series of decisions and choices. For me, making my life choices has me thinking long and hard about the responsibility I’m undertaking. To be in control of my own destiny.
The results of good and bad choices are blasted from the media, social and otherwise until I’m ready to scream. Choices are the catch cry of today. But the fact is I can make my life better by making good choices or a nightmare by making bad ones – it’s my choice.
At times I’ve wondered how many conscious choices I make every day. How many alternatives are there? I would say infinite.
Albert Camus said,“Life is the sum of all your choices.”
Today I had a stack of little choices to make:
what I watch,
what I read,
what I eat,
do I mow the grass,
will I go to town,
who do I email,
will I write a BLOG? The list goes on and on.
When I think about it I realise my choices are made with the thought of what sort of positive impact this choice would have on my day, and in a broader sense, my life.
But have you ever made a choice and wondered what might have happened if the choice was to go left instead of right, or even yes instead of no to a particular horse?
For me personally, what would’ve been the outcome had I not self published my books? In this case I made a choice based on what worked best with my life at the time.
I talk often about the parallels of my life regarding Arabian horses and writing books. Right now both are in a stage of change. The future of publishing is in an interesting phase. Will it settle down to be a mix of both print and digital rather than a complete shift from print to digital? I personally feel it would be a shame not to embrace both.
What choices will the successful publishers make? Will there be those who are able to structure their businesses in a way that enables them to take full advantage of both. Shouldn’t there be room for compromise?
I think back to when I decided to purchase a new horse. With every purchase I based my choice on the goals I planned for the future. I made sure I never lost focus on my destiny. Nothing happens fast when you become involved with breeding. It takes nearly a year for a mare to have a foal and possibly a decade to achieve any sort of real recognition. I knew from the beginning how research and knowledge were vital to my decision or choice.
At present, within the Arabian horse scene I see the baby-boomer breeders being faced with big decisions. There are some health issues, or even the desire for something new in life. The question for some ends up being, find a new challenge within the breed, one that is manageable, scale back or stop breeding. If it’s time to scale back or stop breeding this choice impacts on the already struggling Arabian horse scene. But this type of thing has happened before and the cycle has once again come around.
Horse breeding as with many other things in life is cyclic, it booms – then there’s an oversupply – then there’s a slump. People leave, others continue and new breeders step in place. It becomes very obvious how the choices people make can aid the severity of the outcome.
I’ve learnt that we all have to constantly make choices, often the same ones repeated over and over again. To breed, to sell, to show, to ride etc, never easy as the consequences of these choices are often unknown. Like horse breeding, book publishing is also no overnight happening. Just being a writer or a horse breeder is a choice. And for the Arabian horse enthusiast studying what Arabian horse breeders have chosen to do in the past can offer choice insights as to how you choose for the future.
I’ve learned to take the moments in life and cherish them for what they are. Do what I love and make all my choices count. I have never wanted to look back with regret; I want to look back with fondness at the choices I made. The more one knows about themselves and their place in the world, the easier the choice.
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