When I am faced with a decision (or several) I often think about this quote from The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath:
“I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn’t make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.”
Only in the Bell Jar the figs were different paths in life and my figs are what to do with my precious time.
Like this weekend, there were figs for climbing, for visiting my family, for rappelling down cliffs in the hunt for crystals, Halloween parties on a homestead, headlamp climbing parties at the gym, and then (the fig I never want to eat) all of the work, responsibilities and chores I should be doing around the house.
As soon as I went for one fig, the others started to drop away. Fortunately the fig I ended up with was a good one. It was a sweet, beautiful fall day hunting for crystals and climbing areas and getting scolded for trespassing and getting welcomed for trespassing and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
