If you were given a second chance at something, what would you do with that opportunity? Would you be grateful and seize the moment to make things right in your world? Would you appreciate how lucky you were? Or would you pretend that it wasn’t a miracle and squander it?
I’m thinking a lot about second chances today. Late last year, I both received a second chance and gave a second chance. I thought I would be grateful for the second chance at health, a chance to beat cancer, a chance to make changes in my life to get me back to contentment. I thought I was doing a decent job of appreciating every day as a gift from the universe.
But the second chance I gave, that wasn’t appreciated. I hate to think I wasted that generosity of my spirit; but this morning, I’m left with the unpleasant truth that some times people don’t deserve another chance. And I’m wondering if I’m wasting my second chance, the chance I got when my cancer was detected early enough, when I offered that person the second chance of a lifetime.
Where do I go from here? I realize that if I continue down this path, I’m squandering my second chance at a life I want to lead – a life of healthy decisions, a life of contentment – if not a little happiness every now and then. I’m being ripped apart inside right now no matter what fork in the road I choose. How do you know when you are making the most of your second chance? And how do you know when to walk away?