I had book club last night. We read the book Midnight Library - which I highly recommend. It was kind of like that movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the main character sees how her life would have turned out if she made different choices. We had a great roundtable discussion, and the question was asked if we had any regrets. This is a hard one for me because like everyone, I have regrets. But I’m really happy with how my life is going right now, and if I made different decisions this would not be my reality.
I referred to someone today as aggressively graceful. This person is forthright and strong with her opinions, yet concerned about how her message comes across. I’m talking about Jenn Mewes. Jenn was named as one of the top 100 Iowa Nurses and the ceremony was last Sunday. I imagine if I asked Jenn (who 25 years ago stopped in a local bar with a guy she was dating on a cross country trip from Maine and decided that Clarion was “it” …) if she had regrets -- I’m not certain what’d she’d say, but I bet her regrets are few. Jenn gracefully allows for the organic solution - I like this about her. She’s measured in her opinion (not always … more now though) and doses everything; every decision with compassion. (See Mondays with Steve for my chat with Jenn.)
We are where we are supposed to be. I tell friends who try and force fate - make decisions based upon what they want as the outcome versus what the outcome should be - that forcing fate doesn’t work. If we live with integrity and allow reality to happen as it should and be aggressively graceful in all we do; life will be good. Will we have regrets? Yes. Will we like everything that happens? No. But will the ride be smoother than if we tried to force our desired outcome … I think “probably”.
