One Choice

One Choice

You’re always One Choice away from changing your life

There are two primary choices in life; to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.

With the stress of everyday life, we sometimes fall into routines without even realizing it. And then we just continue doing the same things we’ve always done and getting the same results we always have. And that’s fine if you’re completely happy with the life you have, but remember, you have the power to break out of your routine and live the life you want.

Here’s the truth: by making just one choice, you can change your life. Whatever the change may be—new career, new relationship, going back to school—it’s up to you to choose to go after it.

In the fifties, a male high school graduate had three well-worn paths before him: college, the military, and sales. Gary tested the first two, giving a year and a half to the books and two years to his country. But by the age of twenty, marriage and the birth of his first child veered his path toward the promising world of sales. This would prove to be a much longer path than the first two.

Despite his lack of college education, Gary secured an entry-level sales position and gradually moved upward. For more than 20 years, he provided for his family—something his father struggled to do—but with each year that passed his gaze probed deeper inward.

“I never really forgot about teaching, but it wasn’t until I realized that each time I was given more responsibility in my job, I ended up with less time at home. At one point, I was traveling from Monday to Thursday for four or five weeks in a row. I’d sometimes go over a month only seeing my wife and kids on the weekends. When I realized this, I knew something had to change.”

Deep down, Gary knew there was only one option. But how would he do it? He wasn’t young anymore and he hadn’t even finished college. Besides that, if he left P & G now after 17 years, he would have to forgo a profit-sharing and retirement package that would be over a million dollars when fully vested.

“I thought about the money and the risks. And then I thought about traveling a thousand miles a week and selling bar soap covers for another twenty years. I was only forty-four at the time, and the way I saw it, that meant I had at least twenty years to do something else with my life.”

Most 44-year-olds in Gary’s shoes would recall the past and let the weight of a twenty-three year career keep them put. Time investment always seems like a feasible excuse. But for what return? Gary considered this and had his answer.

“The money would have been nice, but it didn’t matter. I grew up very poor.” Gary learned early to appreciate the meaningful things in life like a job, a roof, and a warm meal, and his subsequent action was born from that wisdom. Meaning over money. Provision and passion before prosperity and position.

He and his wife sold everything in their home that wouldn’t fit into a medium-sized box and packed up the car. He had done some research about cities with good colleges where he could finish his bachelor’s degree in education. Someplace warm—that was the only prerequisite. A couple of weeks and several hundred miles later, they landed in Boca Raton, Florida.

A stack of bills followed his family to Boca Raton, so once they found a temporary place to live, Gary sought out a job. The position wasn’t important. He just needed something in the evening to keep them afloat while he finished school during the day. As far as he was concerned, he had already made the leap and now he was bound to land on the other side. Pride now a dead issue, Gary immediately took a job as a late night janitor at the Ambassador East Hotel and remained there for six months until he found a job much closer to his heart. At forty-five, he began counseling troubled men at the Del Ray Beach Crisis Center. This was the closest Gary had been to teaching, and he thrived. Gary would race through the remainder of his schooling in a year and a half and accept his first official teaching position at Santaluces High School at forty-seven-years-old.

Gary touched many students over the next fifteen years as a high school social studies teacher, but oddly enough that wouldn’t give you the entire picture. Sure, he was voted “Favorite Teacher” by the students many times—four years in a row at one point. But the truth is that the greatest testimony to Gary’s mid-life leap is what he’s doing today as a volunteer—teaching a homeless man to read.

The man is forty-four and jobless because he can only read at a second-grade level. But Gary hopes to change that. It’s why he’s here. No position. No paycheck. Just passion…and the opportunity to give his homeless friend a chance to survive on his own.

Your choice might be different than Gary’s, but no matter what, you can make the choice to change your dream life into a reality.

Remember, you have the power to change your life. The choice is yours.

Om Namah Shivay