Leaping Before Looking

warning-mass-confusion-ahead1

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do… Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”     ~Mark Twain~

As a child, I often heard it said:  “Curiosity kills the cat.”  This proverb was supposed to instill in us the notion that exploring and getting lost are not at all virtuous behaviors. It is better to play life close to the cuff.  I beg to differ.

We all make mistakes, and those of us who make the most mistakes the fastest have the greatest likelihood of success and unstoppable self-confidence.

This morning for me was a case in point.  I am very uncomfortable working with computer technology.  Yet when I read a report from a reliable source today which told me I could tweak my computer and increase the speed of it in five easy steps…well, curiosity got the best of me.

I followed the instructions to the T, yet when I rebooted my new laptop I had no Windows after the initial logo flashed.  Something was happening inside my machine because the lights of the operating system were flickering, but no matter what I did or tapped, the OS was inoperable.

I quickly dispatched a message to the frickin guy who sold me the manual to ask for urgent help, but I got no response.

I then figured out how to go to Safe Mode, but that was like a novice opening a circuit board to try to find a shorted circuit.

Next, I pulled out all the manuals and disks for my computer, but they were all written in Japanese (which is a challenge).

Oh well, I thought, I’ll reformat the hard drive.  The notion was daunting because I’d have to spend half my day adding software and copying files from my old desktop to the newer laptop.

So I went back into Safe Mode and perused my options a final time. Aha!  There it was:  “Go back to the last working configuration.”  Presto, two wasted hours brought a victory at last.

The moral of this story:  Our dumb mistakes are always learning experiences in disguise.  They teach us how to work out difficulties and become empowered.

For those of you who are technically-challenged or know someone who is that way, share this story.  The only thing which separates us from our dreams is the willingness to try new things and the unwillingness to take failure or obstacles personally or fatally.

Stop being intimidated by technology or people.  Everything in our world is put there to make us better and stronger.  Face up to challenge and embrace it.