DECISIONS AND CHOICES
Life is a continuing series of decisions and choices. For me, making good life choices keeps me in control of my own future.
Everyday the results of good and bad choices are blasted from the TV, media, social and otherwise until I’m ready to turn off the news with frustration. Choices appear to be the catch cry of today. But the fact is life can be better or worse by the choices I make. It’s my choice.
Albert Camus said,“Life is the sum of all your choices.”
Today I counted the choices I made:
will I draft more of Framed,
what I watch,
what I read,
what I eat,
do I mow the grass,
will I go to town,
who will I email,
will I write a BLOG?
Seriously the list goes on and on and on.
I realised my choices are made with the immediate thought of; what sort of positive impact will it make on my day. And in a broader sense, my own and others lives. But have you ever made a choice and wondered what might happen if the choice was to go left instead of right, or yes instead of no to a particular horse?
For me personally, what would’ve been the outcome had I not self published my books? For me I know I made the best choice based on the direction my life was heading at the time. And as it turned out several years later; the choice was perfect.
I often talk about the parallels of my life regarding Arabian horses and writing books. Right now both have changed. The future of publishing is in an interesting phase. But print and digital have sorted themselves quite amicably from what I’m reading. It’s great news, I personally felt it would be a shame not to embrace both. Shouldn’t there always 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 in the future. 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 decisions or choices.
At present, within the Arabian horse scene I see the baby-boomer breeders being faced with big choices. There are possible health issues, or even the desire for change. 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. This type of situation has happened before and the cycle came around and recovered. However, the Baby Boomer generation is a big one listed as 1946 – 1964. it adds up to being quite a large population of breeders. Plus many Baby Boomers were the early movers and shakers that powered the Arabian breed forward especially in the 1970’s and 80’s.
Horse breeding as with many other things in life is cyclic, it booms and then, there’s an oversupply and 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. But to have a larger population cease to breed causes the impact to be concerning.
I’ve learnt that we all have to constantly make choices, set goals, adjust to one’s lifestyle. 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 and I’ve decided to make all my choices count. It doesn’t work every time, often outside influencers cannot be predicted but I’d never want to look back with regret. More than anything I want to look back happy with my achievements. But even more so I love to see the positive choices made by the breeders associated with the Pearsons View breeding program. The more one knows about themselves and their place in the world, the easier the choice.
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