Some of you may have seen the movie "Sliding Doors", from several years ago. The story followed the main character down two parallel but very different life paths, based on one singular choice that character made, at one particular moment in time. In that vein, some lighter, although perhaps more contemplative thoughts. A short summer read to jump start your thinking. (Originally published as my July e-news. Drop me a text or email if you'd like to subscribe.)
I'm currently in conversation with a number of clients, some deciding to sell in the fall, others actively looking for their next home. These conversations have led me to think back to all those pivotal "real estate" moments taken in the path of my own life. The decision to act vs not act; where the "yes" led to vs where the "no" may have led. The last minute decision to pass on making an offer for a home. The offer not accepted that led to another home in a different neighbourhood being bought. As I look back I can almost visualize the exact moment and place where a decision to choose – or not choose – a particular path sent us on a different life trajectory. I remember the first moment walking into homes that became ours. Also the moments a decision was made to sell. I remember some of the people involved at those critical moments too. I also remember a few that got away; homes we tried to buy but lost out on – what might have been – and choosing to buy one vs another the same day. How life could have been completely different, and followed a wildly different path, based on that one decision made over a coffee table at 9pm one night, and the new life path that came from it.
I remember the real estate events that led to meeting my wife; to friends I've had for years; to a new career and the end of a previous one. The pivotal event for me was day-one of moving into a rental condo when I was young and discovering the broken glass from a break-in of the previous tenant's car in my new parking spot. I was so shaken that I left, with penalties, to seek out another place in which I'd feel more comfortable. I met my wife at that next place, at a building garage sale as she tried to sell me some dodgy coffee mugs. I remember visiting my brother at his new condo in Kitsilano, and dropping into an open house, which we ended up buying on the spur of the moment. That one decision years earlier – to choose to move out of that first rental condo before even moving in – led to a life that I could not have imagined: my wife; lifelong friends; a successful real estate career; and all sorts of life adventures that I couldn't imagine years earlier. In each of these moments in time a path was taken, and other paths were not. What would life be like if some of those chosen paths were not taken, and others were?
Now, your turn! You might need a cocktail or a coffee. Give it a try. Think back to all those pivotal decisions that led to where you are today, whether they be career, family, real estate... Contemplate what life might be like if a different decision was made at those critical moments. No need to share with me or anyone else, but feel free to if you like!
For so many of us, our path to unknown yet ultimately amazing adventures is initially set by a bold decision to go for it. As Richard Branson once said, "Life is always more interesting when you say yes."
Robert