How To Make A Life Decision

“We finally decided to get a dog!” I excitedly proclaimed to my extended family in our WhatsApp group chat as I sent across Troy’s photo.

Troy Taghavi

We had been contemplating a dog for several months, taken several trips to the pet shop and researched different breeders.

We’d been bringing the dog up for a while now, sending photos we’d looked at and indecisively making soft commitments while not following through.

The family was likely even getting a bit perturbed about our indecision.So I wasn’t surprised when my uncle replied with:

“What made you finally decide to go through with it?”

I said:

“After contemplating the decision for a while, we finally realized the amount of joy it will add to our lives made the ‘work’ involved a no-brainer.The hardest things in life tend to bring the most joy and meaning, and a dog is certainly one of those things.”

My kind but concerned uncle responded with:

“It’s going to be a lot of work, and it’s going to impact your work and travel lives which I know mean a lot to you. Congratulations nonetheless!”

Later that day, I got on the phone with my cousin who just said the family had gotten into a big fight over their own internal discussion about buying a dog.

The kids want one, the mom is on the fence and the dad disapproves because its “too much work”.

My cousin told me:

“Yea my dad just thinks it’s too much work.”

I responded with conviction:

“That’s bs. Of all people, your dad never lets hard work get in the way of getting what he wants.”

“Besides being a super performer at work, he personally manages the family’s chalet most weekends, is an avid Harley Davidson rider who goes on 30 day rides across India and just bought a boat – all things he manages himself!”

It’s not his work, it’s his worldview that’s the problem. He just thinks a dog isn’t worth having, which is fair, but don’t give me that nonsense about it being too much work.

I re-explained our thought process for the decision, sharing that we realized just how much we’re actually missing out on each day we’re void of the presence of a high-vibration life force that offers so many benefits.

Mind you, we certainly don’t take the practical matters of getting a dog for granted.

If we didn’t have the inner mental stability, financial stability and ability to invest the time adequately to be great owners, we wouldn’t have moved forward.

However if those boxes were checked, it just meant a commitment to put in the work.

I finalized to my cousin:

"It’s about what you choose to focus on, and your dad is simply choosing to focus on the hard things because he doesn’t want the dog. But most importantly, don’t be afraid of putting in the work to get what you want."

If it’s not hard, it’s often not worth doing.

Chasing the hard way is a winning strategy to growth and development in most any context, and this is certainly applicable to large life decisions of the heart.

Follow yours and don’t let the work involved not get you what you want.