The hope for new opportunities is something we can all relate too. Some prepare for a lifetime to get that one opportunity longed for year after year, whatever it might be. Some jump at every opportunity that comes along. Opportunity is generally viewed optimistically as a chance to do better, to redo, or to change altogether. We take opportunities everyday, sometimes after much thought, sometimes without much thought at all. Whether we acknowledge them or not, opportunities come our way everyday. Some are blatant and some are packaged in a way that they may be taken for granted.
To hear the word ‘opportunity’ generally brings on feelings of excitement and curiosity. We love opportunities, so much so that we sometimes even allow them to interrupt the vision already prepared. This is especially true for those who are in a ‘meantime’ status where patience is of the utmost importance. While we go through the motions of satisfying the needs of the meantime, new opportunities will likely come along that have nothing to do with our goals or our path. But because the opportunity seems so desirable and is being taken by many of those around us, one can easily become anxious and began moving away from the original plans or original goals already established, and end up jumping on the bandwagon…now distracted.
Hearing about or being offered new opportunities always sounds like a winner, but it is always the responsibility of the individual to take the better ones, hence the importance of already having some type of direction or at the least some idea of the direction one wants to go. Every opportunity we take, whether personal or professional, will have some bearing on future arrangements, which makes it imperative that we choose wisely. Too often we become clueless of why we are where we are. Too often we place blame. But if we take the time to think back, there we will find the source, the opportunities we embraced, the reasons.
So yes, opportunities come our way everyday. They look good. They sound good. They give us hope. However, what we will find to be most important with embracing new opportunities is our awareness of the obligations already established in our lives. When we can make the two, opportunities and obligations, gel together and compliment each other; that is when we’re found to embrace the right ones and see progression. Opportunities and obligations can work together and either bring success or create disaster. There’s even the in-between of the best and the worst, known as the mundane, that many settle for, but choosing the right opportunities and addressing the expectations of obligations is a combination sure to offer the best.
Take advantage of, yet take heed to opportunities, big and small. They help shape our lives and they’ll always be around. The more focused we are and the more clear our direction , the less likely we are to become anxious when the appealing, sometimes false opportunities come our way and the less likely it is that they will lead us astray. If we view opportunities more appropriately as options, perhaps it would give us the assurance that there are a host of them and it is up to us to distinguish the good from the bad. Choose wisely.
Tawana R. Powell
www.facebook.com/tawana.powell
