Title taken from ‘It takes courage to make the right decision:’ Artemis 2 astronaut explains why moon mission was delayed to 2025 (exclusive)
I love the above statement. In the article that follows it is about saying things aren’t ready for takeoff yet. It got me thinking with this year of elections coming up – how many of our leaders have the courage to make the right decisions and how many will promise us things they cannot deliver? How often do we promise we will do something because we do not have the courage to upset others because we are too busy people pleaseing? And also to make this positive step along the way with a project rather than coming over negatively.
It is the courage to say No that I love about this story. No it isn’t safe. No it isn’t ready. Just no not yet. Not no forever but just wait. This project will have to wait because I don’t have the energy/time/resources/support to get it done.
I think too often one is encouraged to push through and get things done rather than be courageous enough to say “wait” and “not quite yet”. The Artemis 2 people aren’t say Never but are saying Wait. Wait till it’s safe. Wait till we know more.
I think about the meeting where I bemoaned the need for some people to show they were busy, in that there was just this need to “get the job done” “get the money spent” and when someone was brave enough to challenge that, all though they appeared to be listened to, were actually ignored because no one there was courageous enough to say things like “oh you could be right let’s wait a while“.
The courage to make the right decision is so much more than pushing through regardless. It is so much more than putting in those extra hours to keep someone else happy. It is the courage to look at the whole situation and then be willing to say Wait. Sometimes it might even be the courage to scrap it completely.
I will paraphrase something I heard on a TV program last night “This life is all we have and it is alright to make mistakes along the way so long as one has the courage to admit to them, pick oneself up and go off to see what happens next”.
Not “don’t make mistakes” and not “oh that hurt so I won’t step out again” but to boldly go and courageously see what happens next.
flippant but my comment was “what I can I do about it?”
others that seem so insecure and yet have bits of the world they’ve been given dominion over a big hug, a kind word and let them know that they don’t need to stress so much. Again sounds trite but I do wonder if instead of running people down we lifted them up then the world would be a kinder place. So I can’t touch world leaders but I can touch those who I’ve been given the privilege to be in touch.
Airbnb community forum. Well what an amazing bunch of people. No one made me feel daft for having let them stay and everyone who responded to my post was helpful. Airbnb said that unfortunately they could not take the review down because it didn’t quite break their guidelines. But with the help of the online community from around the world I was able to put up a succinct response to the review which actually, so the community said, took the sting out of the review and gave me the higher ground. And also helped others to see that here was someone just ranting. But it took me a while to potter through all this and come out feeling ok.
true and I did not like someone saying things that were untrue. As always timing is amazing and I was meeting with my spiritual director and so I told him all this. His response was that we all feel like that, which I sort of know to be true, and that it was ok.
glass and oscillate, as most of us do, between feeling like glass is half empty or half full. Or I can go to that total place of letting go where I am happy to give away everything in my glass and wait for the Holy Spirit to fill it.
helped as did various open and honest posts on Facebook from my daughter, from a friend whose total openness about his struggle with his sexuality was amazing, but not just that but the love with which his friends responded. As well as friends I have who are willing to let me be myself and my spiritual director, and my time being able to walk with my dog and think and ponder with God. And also we have just had two Airbnb guests who’ve stayed who have been totally lovely and have reminded me why we do this. So it is by community that we survive and can choose.
Aspirational Adventures 