When Wanting Is Not Enough...
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Deciding and Acting is what Changes Everything:
There is something I understood over time... and almost suddenly: for years I wanted many things.
I wanted to live more in my own way. Sometimes I let myself be carried away by my moods: sometimes a warrior, sometimes a lover... others I was a magician, and I was also a queen.
But the real changes - those that marked milestones in my life - only came when I began to decide... and to act in coherence with that decision.
Because wanting is comfortable. Decide, No.
And that simple fact makes a big difference in our lives.
At 50+, stopping and self-evaluating is not a luxury, it is a real necessity.
If we get to this stage living on autopilot, accepting what comes as it comes, putting out fires... solving the effects of decisions that we never make, or take without evaluating the possible results.
That way of living can accompany us for the rest of our lives.
At this stage there is a truth that we cannot avoid:
We are the result of the decisions we make. Not of our intentions. Not of our inconclusive plans. We are the real result of our daily choices.
Many do not achieve their goals because they confuse an expressed desire with a decision made.
Desire is passive. The decision demands changes. And, above all, sustained actions over time.
Personal exercise
I propose to give you this space. Today it may seem intangible... but, if you take it seriously, it generates concrete results.
Day 1
In your diary - or on a blank sheet - write for yourself, from the present, looking to the future.
Imagine that you are 70+ years old. Approximately 20 years have passed since today.
Describe everything that comes to your mind:
What do you look like? (Face, posture, way of walking)
Where do you live? What is that place like: warm, cozy, cold, lonely?
Are you surrounded by other people? Who are they?
Do you have any projects? Hobbies? How is your health?
Above all: what sensations do you perceive in your mind and body?
Algunos aspectos serán fáciles de imaginar.Otros, no tanto.
This exercise can make you uncomfortable. It can lead you to question yourself. Negative ideas or deep fears may even appear.
And that's fine.
Sometimes we never stop to imagine how it could be... how it should be... or how we really want our life to be. Much less confront reality.
Day 2
Read what you wrote the day before. Do it several times.
Then, look at your present.
Describe how you are living today in those same aspects. It also includes your economic reality.
Day 3
Answer yourself, in writing and with total honesty:
How am I really living?
What decisions have I not made?
What changes should I initiate to get closer to the life that I feel is right for me?
What topics can I no longer postpone?
If in any aspect you can't visualize your "I" of the future, don't force it. Leave it as an open question... and go back to it.
.
PThis exercise is simple. But it is deeply powerful.
Today I can say that I feel proud of who I am. There were times when I was determined and finished what I set out to do, even so, I recognize something important: for much of my life I lived from desires... and only 50% from real decisions about those longings.
Sometimes I wonder: Who would I be today, Isabel, if I had been firmer with your decisions, when events took me away from my goals? I got carried away by the circumstances... living on autopilot?
Desires give illusion, energy, hope. But without conscious decisions that support them, it is easy to get lost on the road. And then, almost without realizing it, you end up feeling "victim" of the circumstances ... when in reality what was missing was to decide coherently towards what you really wanted to build.
If after reading your own reflections you feel that it is time to close the gap between who you are today and the person you want to be at 70+, taking into account your current reality at 50+, approach people like me.
People who have decided to dedicate our time and energy to accompany others in that process: transform desires into conscious decisions... and really assume the leadership of their own lives.
With Love, from Panama, April 04, 2026, Isabel C Ruiz
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