Maybe I Should Have Waited

Photo by Lindsay Henwood on Unsplash

Ever had that thought cross your mind? Or perhaps you find yourself saying that too often? Do you always seem to encounter situations in which you later utter to yourself, “Maybe I should have waited for the right time”?

There are numerous opportunities that come our way. And I am one to encourage others to grab them whenever they can. When you want to do something and it’s your passion, I believe there is no better time than the present. As I said before, if you keep waiting for the right time and continue making excuses, the right time will never come. You better be ready to take hold of the chance when it comes your way because it may never happen again.

Surely, I would have wanted to take on various opportunities before. But I let them slip away from my fingers and I missed out on some interesting things. For most of my life, I was very safe. I only did things if somebody pushed me to do it and usually if it had any impact on my academics. Otherwise, I would rather live my life in the most ordinary way possible. That’s why, during my last year of high school, I finally did things that I thought would be interesting, no matter what the consequences. It did affect my studies but I never regretted a thing.

There are two kinds of regrets that people have: things that they weren’t able to do when they had the chance and things that they shouldn’t have done despite having the chance. Both of these situations can be heartbreaking especially if you put it in a romantic setting. But I won’t be talking about that here, I just thought it would be nice to point out though.

In this post, I will be focusing on the latter. You have to admit, being young, dumb, and reckless makes for some fun adventures and great stories to tell but you often find yourself getting into a lot of trouble as well. It’s okay to try out new things and experience the world for yourself. But don’t make stupid decisions based on a whim, just so that you can brag to others.

Don’t be afraid to take chances especially if you’re pursuing your dream or passion. However, I would like to balance things out. We can’t just keep grabbing every opportunity that presents itself to us no matter how enticing. Some can definitely lead to unforgettable, priceless moments that you would cherish for the rest of your life. While others can turn into regrets. They can be complete letdowns and may even cost you more than you bargained for. Of course, they can still be learning experiences but you still have to face the consequences.

FOMO. What a new-fangled term! It means “fear of missing out”. We all want to experience new and epic things. We don’t want to be the only one left out on all the fun. It works in parallel with the other new term YOLO which means “you only live once”. But I think that should be enough reason for us to know how to balance our desire for new experiences with discernment on which chances to take. You only live once and one wrong decision can take away all of that. Take risks but don’t put everything on the line in one go.

As the saying goes, “Patience is a virtue.” In all situations, I think we need to be patient. But patience doesn’t simply mean waiting and doing nothing. In a nutshell, I would say it is the ability to not rush things and to wait for the ripe time. I say ripe because we don’t have the power to foresee or know the right or perfect time for something as uncertain as our future. But we can just continue to mature and grow such that wherever we are led, we would be prepared to handle whatever comes our way.

We don’t have the power to know what’s going to happen in the future. Even with the best information available, things can still go differently from what we expected. Only God would have the perfect knowledge of the future. He knows the perfect time for everything. So being patient also means waiting on God. It involves working hard to develop and equip ourselves so that we will be better able to handle the circumstances of what we’re waiting for.

I thought about all this because I made a big decision two years ago. An opportunity presented itself and I made an investment. I thought that I had enough resources – time, effort, creativity – to fully utilize and maximize my investment. It turns out that my other responsibilities i.e. studies would take precedence and that investment would be neglected.

That experience has taught me a lot though. I know now how to be more discerning with the opportunities I get. Not all opportunities will be beneficial or add value to your life. So depending on your situation and the kind of risks you are willing to take, you make the decision. Of course, it would be wiser to take others’ opinion to account and consider other possibilities. But in the end, you need to make your own move.

Through that experience, I also learned how to be more patient. In hindsight, the investment I made back then would have made more of a difference now if I still had it. I did gain valuable insight into what I was fiddling with and I have a better idea on how to do things right moving forward. I didn’t lose a lot though. I was able to take certain things into consideration at the time and decided it would be fine to take the chance. Then again, things do change as time passes by. So just try to make the most out of it.