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Do We Seize the Moment? Or, Does the Moment Seize Us?

Posted on February 2, 2015February 2, 2015 by Dr. Burnout
Do we seize the moment or does the moment seize us?
Do we seize the moment or does the moment seize us?

You have been there. I know you have. Everyone has. The one clear moment when everything fell into place or came crashing down. A moment where, in an instant, you knew something important happened, something shifted.

It was a moment you will remember forever. Perhaps it was when you had a personal epiphany. Or, perhaps it was when someone else took an action which greatly affected you, something completely out of your control. Someone said something or someone did something which changed your life forever.

Perhaps something wonderful happened. Something which created such joy and happiness you felt it could never be repeated. Those are the easiest moments to hang onto and the hardest to let go.

No matter, there you were – right place, right time. Or, wrong place, wrong time. You had a life altering realization or event and you knew your life would never be the same, and it never was.

Did you seize that moment or did the moment seize you? It depends, as they say, on your perspective.

I don’t believe in chance when it comes to humans. It’s too random for me. I don’t believe in fate either. There are no options when it comes to fate. I believe in LIFE and the endless and limitless possibilities it provides. I believe in choice.

We all make choices. Some good. Some neutral or indifferent. Some bad. Although there are different kinds of choices, all choices have one thing in common – CONSEQUENCES.

Some people experience life changing moments which they should let go of immediately, or as soon as possible, and forever but never do. As in moments of tragedy, heartbreak, illness, misfortune or accident they become stuck. In doing so, I believe they have allowed the moment to seize them.

I’ve been stuck before. I have had moments in my past I have held onto way past their natural expiration dates. Some I held onto like grim death for years and years. I have allowed past moments to seize me, from which there was no recovery. There was no going back because I never moved forward. Not until I let go.

Other moments I seized for myself rather than allowing them to seize me. Like the moment a customer in a Radio Shack I was managing said to me, “Sounds like you can do anything you make up your mind to do.” I enrolled in college the very next day and later became a family physician.

There was the moment when a patient asked my what I was doing for cardiovascular exercise after I had just berated him for his lack of the same. The truth was, I wasn’t doing anything. I bought running clothes that same evening and began running. I have been running ever since some 14 years later. My physical, emotional, mental and spiritual realms have all improved as a result.

There was the moment I realized I had become burned out in my career. I had hit most of the six mismatches between the job and the individual which can cause burnout. Instead of just sucking it up or quitting, I decided to make some needed changes. It made all the difference in the way I feel about medicine. In finding a way to help myself I have discovered ways I can help other professionals suffering from job burnout.

There was the moment when I found out my wife was leaving me. To say I was devastated would be a gross understatement. But, I decided I wasn’t going to self-destruct and things would get better with time. Things did get better with time. Much better.

I took that moment to change a lot of other things about my life. I began new journeys. Some have concluded. Others are ongoing. The transformation has been amazing!

The way I see it, I believe there are just two possible outcomes for our life-changing moments. You can allow the moment to seize you. Or, you can seize the moment. Either way, there will be consequences. Either way, it is a choice. 

I believe there are just two possible outcomes for our life-changing moments.

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As I said before, I believe in choice. Do you?

Have there been times in your life where you have allowed the moment to seize you? Have there been times you distinctly remember seizing the moment?

3 thoughts on “Do We Seize the Moment? Or, Does the Moment Seize Us?”

  1. Chris Bateman on Facebook says:
    February 6, 2015 at 11:51 am

    The moment seizes us

    Reply
  2. Thoughtful_frau says:
    August 17, 2015 at 1:47 am

    Thanks for the insightful article. I believe it is both – sometimes the moment seizes us, sometimes we seize it. Ultimately I believe our knowledge of self is the one that allows us to decide which is which. Life is not just one thing, it is everything happening at different times.

    I believe that there is such a thing as fate and that although we do have choices, the type of choices or opportunities that present themselves to us are determined by fate. Otherwise why do we meet the people we do- that others who are close to us never have? Why does one thing happen to you and not to me? We are not all the same; many things are chosen for us.

    Reply
    1. admin says:
      August 17, 2015 at 9:37 am

      How right you are? Self-identity goes a long long way when it comes to happiness. I think things happen which we can not control because we are all making choices and we can not control the choices others make. No choice is made in a vacuum. Every choice we make not only affects our life but also the lives of those around us. Thank you for your comments!

      Reply

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