I was at the beach today. There were some magnificent clouds, and no, I am not using the adjective lightly here. I did not have my camera with me. So I “photographed” them and saved them in my memory. Pity, I know. I thought about how I won’t see the same clouds again. Similar yes, but not identical. But then having my camera would have made me miss the opportunity to think and write about …well, missed opportunities.
The question is: How do you think about missed opportunities? No, not clouds to photograph, but nail-biting opportunities that happen occasionally. Often or rarely is not the point here. And I am not talking about a once in a lifetime opportunity either, because that alone would be the topic for another blog post.
Just missed opportunities. Do you linger and cry over what could have been? Or find the strength to move on and maybe tell yourself that it was not to be? Do you hope to learn from it? Learning about an opportunity in particular might not seem a wise thing to do after all. There is a very high chance that the next one will be different.
So what are you supposed to learn then? Here is my take on it: I learn about myself. I learn about my beliefs, I learn about what I am ready to sacrifice to achieve what I want to achieve. I use the actual opportunity, whether I missed it or not, as a tool to know about what can take me to the next level in terms of personal growth and whether the steps are worth taking. So yes, I choose to think of a missed opportunity as a chance to grow and learn about myself. In a particular situation and beyond. What do you think?