Do you consider yourself a black and white type person?
Do you see the world in absolutes with no gray areas?
Do you take the high road or the low road but don’t see yourself in the middle?
Do you get very uncomfortable when things are not crystal clear?
It is difficult to chart a path when there are many unanswered questions.
Some people like that and see it is as a challenge.
Others want to retreat into their shell and let someone else either take over or hope that it will just go away.
Maybe it is a particular circumstance or event that makes you act one way and in other incidents you act totally different.
Some people act like this to protect themselves.
By defining themselves this way, the hope is that no one will question their decisions and they can be left alone.
However, this is not reality.
With the abundant amount of information available, it is hard sometimes to stand by our convictions.
Even things like what is good for us to eat today gets challenged years later and a new list of bad foods is created.
So how we can stand by what we believe in?
How do we back up our beliefs with facts when the facts sometimes change?
Who are we supposed to believe?
These are tough questions for any of us to handle and worse if we are trying to explain this to our children or others.
So I think the best way to deal with it is to keep an open mind on the bigger picture and don’t get mired in the minutiae.
Be realistic in your beliefs but also realize that many stories have two sides (maybe the sides are not even but there are always two sides, i.e. divorce).
Embrace yourself with the knowledge you have gathered for now but explore other ideas when presented to you in a clear and concise way.
As an example, you feel getting a certain certification would benefit your career.
You research the ones that make the most sense and then choose one.
After you signed up to take the exam, a colleague comments that another certification would have been a better option.
What to do?
My feeling is that you should stick with your plan and once that exam is over, look further into the other certification.
There is no reason why you can’t get another certification; knowledge is power!
As we come to the end of this blog series, I have to make a few decisions.
Should I take a break or continue writing every week?
What topics should I write about next?
For now, I will take some time and think about what type of blog series to write next.
Others will probably question my decision but I feel it is the right path for me.
I would welcome others to challenge or question my decision because that may give me ideas for future blogs so please comment or email me.
Stay gray my friends!