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I remember a decision I made in my mid-teens. It is a guide-rail throughout my life, helping me make more adventurous decisions.

I had been baptized in the faith and had gone through the confirmation training and ceremony some years earlier. Now, back to my teen years, I was sitting in the pew of my church one Sunday morning. During the sermon, I admit my young mind wandered. I was thumbing through the new edition of the prayer book. I held in my hand the latest thinking of the scholars of the Canadian-wide religion.

Towards the back, after the wedding ceremony guide, was a page labelled “Prayer for the Conversion of the Jews.” Yes, you read that correctly. The most up-to-date priority my faith had to offer me.

It was at that moment that I decided to leave the church.

I was and still am more of a live-and-let-live type of guy. Jews didn’t need saving. They were doing fine, at least in the faith department. An aside, I grew up with over half the students in my high school class being Jewish. It was normal. The religious mixture was normal.

Now comes my big decision. I promised myself that if, at any time in the future, I wanted to change my mind, return to my childhood faith, start my own religion, or have no faith at all, I would make whatever change seemed right at the time. All this, without guilt over a u-turn in my thinking. I owed no one an explanation. Not even myself. Life is not permanent, and I wanted to be free to meet an unknown future in the best possible way.

I deliberately sketched out a withdrawal plan to reduce the strong emotions that might come with such a withdrawal; relationships with parents and other family members, my own insecurities, and a strong faith throughout my formative years, and so much more. It took about 3 years before I was both comfortable with and actually living a religion-free life. It has taken me to the present day and beyond to refine my identity. I’m happy with who I am, while never satisfied.

A second example of an adventurous decision I made, with the understanding that I was free to update the plan, was leaving home as an adult at around age 21.

I sat my parents down in August to announce that I was l leaving home in September. Oh, to be young again and think that a month’s notice was more than fair. They reacted with a query of where I was going and what I was going to do.

I told them I hadn’t figured that part out yet. Oh, life was so much simpler back then.

I didn’t know at the time that my friends had taken bets amongst themselves on how long it would be before I returned home. They all lost their money.

I remained independent of my nuclear family and made my way in the world with the help of strangers and relatives.

Please give this a bit of a think. Do you have examples in your life when you changed direction in behaviour, thinking, or whatever?

Please comment: Send me an email with your bit of a think. I am curious about your thoughts.

Photo by CJ Dayrit on Unsplash

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