One thousand days. From move-in day to graduation, you have roughly 1,000 days at Miami University. Maybe a bit more or a bit less depending on your own journey, but still, that\u2019s not a lot of time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You have 1,000 days to build friendships, go on spontaneous adventures and figure out who you want to be. You have 1,000 days to appreciate the beauty of Miami\u2019s campus, to walk among the red-brick buildings, knowing you are a living and active part of this grand university.<\/p>\n
When I walk around campus, I deliberately try to soak it all in, focusing on the fact that one day, this will all be just a memory, something I won\u2019t be able to come back to.<\/p>\n
It makes me think about all my choices, especially when I choose to stay in, to not hang out, to not put myself out there. But ever since I saw the 2008 comedy \u201cYes Man,\u201d I\u2019ve wondered, how many \u201cwhat-ifs\u201d will I never be able to answer because of my inaction?<\/p>\n
In the movie, Jim Carrey plays Carl Allen, an ordinary man with a monotonous life who automatically says \u201cno\u201d to every invitation. Every new opportunity is reflexively refused out of habit, not by conscious choice.<\/p>\n
His trajectory flips when he commits to saying \u201cyes\u201d to literally every opportunity that comes his way, no matter what. The movie\u2019s premise is absurdly exaggerated for comedic effect, but the underlying message held up a mirror to my own habits.<\/p>\n
The importance of saying \u201cyes\u201d seems like common sense, but many of us subconsciously resist it, even despite our intellectual assent to it.<\/p>\n
In his book \u201cThinking, Fast and Slow,\u201d world-renowned psychologist Daniel Kahneman described System 1 thinking as a cognitive mode that \u201coperates automatically and quickly, with little or no effort and no sense of voluntary control<\/a>.\u201d Simply put, it\u2019s our instinctive response. System 1 isn\u2019t always wrong, but there\u2019s an issue when that automatic response becomes an unquestioned habit.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve caught myself waiting for the right time to do something, only for that moment to never come as the opportunity slips away. I\u2019ve been a spectator of others\u2019 adventures, instead of being a participant in my own. I\u2019ve chosen the path of perfect safety over risk-taking, and I\u2019ll never know what could\u2019ve been.<\/p>\n If we keep surrendering to automatic avoidance, days of inaction will turn into months, which will turn into years. Our time in college will pass, and we won\u2019t have much to show for it. A 2017 study of Japanese university students published in Psychological Reports found that more of this behavioral avoidance predicted more depressive symptoms over time.<\/a><\/p>\n Would I rather risk being awkward or wake up years later with regret? I don\u2019t want to watch the people around me build their lives while I remain stagnant, letting once-in-a-lifetime opportunities pass me by, never to return again.<\/p>\n The butterfly effect<\/a> is a useful metaphor here. In chaos theory, it describes how small changes can set off huge, unpredictable chain reactions down the line. In the moment, a \u201cyes\u201d to a spontaneous conversation may seem small, but it can open a door that otherwise would\u2019ve never been opened. Not every choice will be life-changing, and no one can foresee which choices will matter most. Answering \u201cyes\u201d is the only way to find out.<\/p>\n \n Enjoy what you’re reading? Now, the meaning of life isn\u2019t to accumulate as many experiences as possible. Life isn\u2019t a game in pursuit of fulfilling bucket-list items; that sort of hedonistic thinking is also wrong. We shouldn’t act imprudently, but we shouldn\u2019t cower from the world either.<\/p>\n At the end of my first semester in college, I was presented with the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., with a club I recently joined. My first instinct was to say \u201cno,\u201d and I did initially.<\/p>\n But I thought about it more, and as the semester came to a close, I decided on a whim to go. I had never done something like this before, but it was so rewarding. I absolutely loved that trip and made so many good memories. I\u2019m so glad I challenged my automatic response and answered life with a \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n We should never let our fear decide our fate. Meeting failure, anxiety and embarrassment face-to-face is part of being fully alive, but so is meeting unexpected joy, lifelong relationships and worthwhile fulfillment.\u00a0<\/p>\n So go out, take a chance and answer your \u201cwhat-ifs\u201d before your 1,000 days are up.<\/p>\n
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