One thing I never thought about when I was young was how it's easier to change your life for the worse than the better. You can easily ruin your life in a few seconds, but it's almost impossible to improve it to the same degree in even a few minutes. Then once you've chosen that fast/easy/fun path, it could take years to fix and you end up working ten times harder! It's a lot like the way it is with food: the majority of food that tastes the best is bad for us, yet fast/easy/fun to eat; then you have to work hard to undo the havoc it does to your body and health. Damn.
I have no explanation as to why Life is this way. I'm sure religious people would tell you that Life is meant to be a test for us (Losties will probably agree), but I wonder if it's not instead the reverse: that Life came first, then came Society, which set up the complicated rules and invented the good-but-bad-for-ya stuff---like Krispy Kreme doughnuts, Frosted Flakes, and crack.
Rather than look for the answers to life's mysteries, I think you'd be better off for now just accepting the fact and being aware that it just can take just seconds to drastically change your life. A few examples:
- Choosing to drive while drunk and getting into an accident
- Choosing to try anything addictive "just once"
- Choosing to have unprotected sex
- Choosing to cheat in any way
These bad choices are sometimes not conscious decisions, but impulsive acts that took
just minutes, if not seconds, whose consequences often last a
whole lifetime. More of these bad decisions are made by young people because they've lived less years and had less time to witness--in real life--what bad choices can do. Perfectly understandable. Of course there are a lot of older people who have very publicly made these bad choices, so obviously there is no age limit when it comes to catastrophic choices.
All you have to do is be aware that a
second can change a lifetime with no second chance and I think you'll be more apt to take your time to make better choices and have a better life. Simple!
