Choices...

How many times have you walked into a shop, eyed up that dress or a pair of shoes and yet, convinced yourself that you don't want or need it, only to get home and immediately regret your decision? What about those purchases you do make? The ones where you envisage yourself wearing said item every day, a welcome addition to your wardrobe, only to let it sit gathering dust, unused and unloved. In the shop it draws you in with its shiny exterior and possibilities, yet leaves you out of pocket and feeling somewhat misled.

Let's use a handbag as the example here. Your old bag is your best friend, your trusted companion. It's the bag that you are most familiar with. You know its merits, the reasons why you plucked it from the store shelves and introduced it into your life. It goes with everything and holds all of your crap in a pretty, yet functional package. But, the time will come where you tire of your old friend and the lure of a shiny, new bag becomes impossible to resist. The soft leather straps and shiny buckles pull you in like a moth to a flame. This could be the one. Suddenly you grow tired of your faithful friend. All the things you loved about your old bag become setbacks and it's little quirks become mild irritants. It's not quite the right size or shape and it's gloss has dulled to a faint glimmer. So you throw it away and replace it with the new bag. A bag that may not tick all of the boxes, but offers you that special something your old bag failed to provide. You learn its ways and how to work it to suit your style. But, it's not quite what you'd hoped it would be. The soft leather becomes distorted and the buckles tarnish. Your crap overspills and your new friend doesn't quite hold it all together like your old one did. You come to realise that you'll never really love it in the same way. The idea of the new bag is the appeal, but the reality is that you loved your old bag, so why did you change?

Now it's too late. Your old friend has been discarded and thrown out with the trash. But how you long for it's familiarity. Maybe it wasn't that bad after all. So what do you do? Do you stick with your new bag and try to forge a friendship over time, or do you set about looking for yet another replacement? Perhaps, if you're really lucky, you can buy back the friendship you once had with an identical version of your old companion.

So what's the purpose of this story? It's complex and kind of sticky. I know that the fear of missed opportunities lead so many, including me, down new and unfamiliar paths. Paths that we may never have envisaged ourselves taking, but when an opportunity knocks at your door you must answer it... right? But what if you weren't home? What if you were out enjoying yourself in the sun or dancing the night away with your trusty friend? Is it always such a bad thing to let an opportunity pass you by? We hear so much of regretting the chances we didn't take, but what of those chances that we did? What if we replaced our old bag with an opportunity-rich, new one and yet, struggle to make it fit right? There it hangs on your shoulder, digging into your skin and reminding you of the choice you made and if you tossed it, would it ever really compensate for your loss?

Kirsty xx