I had a whole post started for today about this past weekend, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. Mostly, because somewhere out there, there is someone that needs to read this. I read a post over on A Practical Wedding a few weeks back that has really stuck in my mind. It was all about "little deaths" and how life is a series of births, deaths, rebirths etc. It also stressed the importance of taking the time to mourn the path NOT chosen in our lives.
To me, I think that some of the happiest moments of all of our lives are also accompanied by a little bit of sadness, but most of the time we are all too afraid to express our sadness because we feel people might not understand and may judge us or misinterpret our recognition of the bits of sadness as regret for our choices- though in no way is that actually the case.
Simply stated, just because we pick one path in life (whether that is to attend or not attend college, which major to hold, to get married or not, to have children or not, to move to one city versus another, to take one job over another, etc) doesn't mean that we are not allowed to recognize what was "given up" by not taking the other path. And by recognizing it, it doesn't mean we have regrets or have changed our minds or anything like that, it simply means that we have fully thought about what our decisions mean to us and our lives.
Anyhow, here is the post. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and that everyone has a great Monday!
*speaking of A Practical Wedding, if you don't already read it, you definitely should. Not only is Meg just an awesome person, but she (and her amazing team) tackle issues that normally are not addressed in the wedding industry. Things like the reality of stress and hurt feelings when combining family traditions, what to do if you feel lonely during the engagement, how to handle the emotions that come with changing your name or not changing your name, how to deal with the emotions behind joint checking accounts/financial independence... you know, all the messy stuff.)