Pick A Door, Any Door

The time for indecision & ambivalence is over--your destiny awaits.  Either you make a conscious choice to continue with the safe but stagnant & soulless Devil You Know™, or you take a chance on making your wildest dreams come true with the Angel You Don't.  Choosing either door closes the other to you forevermore.  Of course you're also free to pick neither door & leave empty-handed.  What'll it be, safe slavery behind Door #1 or dangerous freedom behind Door #Infinity ∞? 

Hurry, time is running out & you're not the only one with options.

                 🚪 #1                                      🚪 # Infinity                          

꒷꒦꒷🪦⚸👿⚚🔥꒷꒦꒷              ☁⋆✮.👼.✮⋆☁                

Which would you choose if presented with this option?  The "safe" straight & narrow path or the wild & winding road?  Be honest.

In my opinion, far too many people stick with the Devil They Know, wasting their one beautiful life on a losing hand, doubling down when they should've folded & defending their irrational moves with a terrible poker face all the while.  It's only in their final days--sometimes on their death beds--that it hits them what a mistake this was.  They likely knew on some level all along but when it REALLY dawns on them not only how much unnecessary bullshit they tolerated but what they missed out on, something akin to a mental breakdown occurs.  Rightfully so.  This life is not a dress rehearsal; there are no do-overs or second takes.  🎬

There are many reasons people choose Door #1: fear of change or vulnerability, the Sunk Cost Fallacy, putting financial security above true love & compatibility, cultural customs & expectations, social acceptance through conformity... but ultimately you're trading your happiness, individuality, freedom & dreams--in essence, sacrificing your very LIFE--for glorified domestic slavery, often to someone who's incompatible at best & abusive at worst.  And if you have children, they become collateral damage in your egotistical battle of wills.  You may think you're hiding your unhappiness from them but trust me, you're not.  Kids, even very young ones, are much more perceptive than we give them credit for & find ways to blame themselves for everything. 

I say this as a product of a couple of "Door 1" lifers who never made even modest attempts to hide their self-inflicted misery & talked more seriously about ways they could kill each other without getting caught than divorce.  I can forgive a lot but I can't forgive that.  You have no right to sacrifice your kids' emotional development & future well-being for the convenience of fighting IN the house over things like scorched gravy & who touched the thermostat.  Nasty, violent fights sometimes ending in police sirens or DHS visits & often with several kids under 10 on their knees begging you to divorce... something most kids fear almost as much as a parent dying.  And these "doors" apply to more than romantic relationships.  Jobs/careers, places of residence, financial investments and other pivotal high-stakes decisions can also present this conundrum. 

While uninspiring, Door #1 does have its lures.  It offers the path of least resistance & demands no major forethought or vulnerability.  It's low-risk, familiar, predictable & certainly easier in the short-term because it's where your momentum is already headed or has already carved out a path.  You're just doing what you were already doing so to speak.  It's not likely to lead to total financial ruin or reputational damage, at least not right away. 

As they say, a ship in harbor is safe & gathers no moss.  (Or maybe that's "a rolling stone...") 

 Either way, ships weren't made to sit in the harbor.  They're built to explore new vistas; to navigate stormy waters & carry passengers to destinations they could only dream of before.  And make no mistake:  the long-term costs of choosing Door #1 over Door #Infinity can be so high it's hard to truly convey them in words.  Compromising your integrity, sacrificing your health & mental stability, stagnation/failure to thrive spiritually, loneliness, isolation, humiliation, exploitation, enabling abusive behavior & thus impeding the OTHER person's growth, & deep aching regret are just a FEW consequences of choosing the Devil You Know™ behind that deceptive door. 

It feels easy because you're "doing what you always did" but that just means you'll "get what you always got" as a result.  Maybe you're okay with that, but then why are you even at this fork in the road where you must choose between these 2 doors?  People who are happy & fulfilled don't end up here.  In fact any safety/security behind that door evaporates the second you open it because it's all an illusion ("...Surprise!").  That was just the false comfort of going through life on autopilot & choosing short-term comfort over working for delayed rewards.  True security doesn't make you feel drained, degraded, defeated & unsettled in your soul.  

Some people work so hard and come so far in life only to stop maddeningly short of the finish line, pulling into port at the very moment they should be correcting course & heading into the glittering orange horizon.  The truly frustrating part is, there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it.  No amount of love, encouragement, emotional support or pleading will move them an inch.  As long as they're committed to stubbornly repeating toxic cycles with the same toxic people, all you can do is try your best not to say "I told you so" as you sit on the sidelines & watch their ship rust & decay alone--perhaps surrounded by people but always frightfully & disconcertingly alone--in a dead end, barren boatyard of their own choosing.  Such is life & the horrors behind Door #1. 

(Not to influence your decision or anything).

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