Do Dumb Things

What’s the worst that could happen? I double-dog dare you. You’re not chicken, are you?

The words that come before we do something stupid.

Ever been there? I think we all have. I know I’ve uttered those words or accepted the challenge given.

Harry and Llyod headed to Aspen (Dumb and Dumber)

Image via Creative Commons

And sometimes they ended with me doing something dumb.

One time I was challenged to swim out to a no-swim buoy in Lake Michigan. Big mistake.

It was dumb and I almost didn’t make it back to shore.

Then there was the time I turned down an assistant manager position. Only to wind up fired from my job.

When these things were happening, it seemed like I was doing dumb things. Not making wise choices.

The swimming incident most likely wasn’t the wisest choice I could have made. It almost cost me my life.

But it taught me something.

I found that when my strength seemed to be gone, I could keep going. I could paddle a little further. I could make it to shore.

It may have been by the skin of my teeth, but I survived.

The other lesson? There are times and places to test out dumb ideas. In Lake Michigan isn’t one of them.

I was also told I made a dumb decision when I didn’t accept the assistant manager position.

At the time, it seemed like those who were saying I was crazy were right.

What right did I have as a newly married man to not accept the position? Great husbands take jobs to support their families, right?

Well, I didn’t. And we suffered, for awhile.

The computer repair business I pursued floundered. I couldn’t get it off the ground. I thought we were sunk. I thought the decision was really dumb.

Then there was the turning point. The point where my dumb decision resulted in a fantastic pay raise, a great place to work, and more freedom than I would have had  if I had accepted the assistant manager position.

All this to say: We do dumb things. We falter in the choices we make. We discover we don’t know it all.

Yet if we continue to move forward, to put one leg in front of the other, we can learn from the dumb things we do.

We can make a bad situation better. We can move from an okay job to a fantastic one. We can survive.

Question: Have you done anything you would consider dumb? What did you learn from the situation? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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