The Enormity Of Tiny Decisions

Make A Run For The Border

Over fifteen years ago, my sister and I were rear-ended waiting to turn left into Taco Bell. The impact was pretty hard and my sister’s car was crunched, but drive-able. We pop a couple Advil for headaches and carry on our evening at the mall (she blames me for the accident to this day – I was hungry). We are otherwise very lucky to be unharmed.

A few years go by.  I begin having trouble with my right arm and shoulder; my doctor blames the poor ergonomics of working at a computer. Some days the pain is so horrendous that I can’t turn my head or lift my arm very high (try blow-drying your hair like this) and there is a pinball game inside my skull.

Last year I mention this recurring problem to a new co-worker who recommends a chiropractic practice that she and her entire family has seen for decades. I have always been resistant to chiropractors, but this time I drop the resistance and just make an appointment. One of the chiropractor’s first questions is whether I have been in a car accident. As I quickly say no, I realize that is not true…I recall the impact and the glow of the Taco Bell sign…. A mere fifteen minutes later, after my first ever chiropractic adjustment, I am turning my head almost as well as that little girl in The Exorcist. I don’t feel any pain. At all. One tiny decision to take advice and now a life altering moment.

Just Do It

The journey of Sudden.Write.Turn. began many months ago as one simple thought on a warm summer day: I don’t have to do this anymore. With that realization, I set out to change my life into one of creativity and writing. Why should you care? Because even tiny decisions can be life altering:

Deciding to brew your coffee at home can save you $20-25 bucks a week…$80-100 a month…around $1,000 in a year. That’s an entire budget for Christmas, a weekend vacation, a new laptop, or a painless way to pay off a $5,000 debt in 5 years. Not bad for one tiny decision to skip the drive-thru.

A few years ago my husband became concerned about his weight and the potential for Type II Diabetes. He quit drinking soda and 20 pounds melted away in a few months. Not long after that, inspired by those results, he started exercising and re-thought his food choices – he shed 45 more pounds over the course of a winter. His cholesterol dropped 50 points and he is now out of the woods on Type II Diabetes. Not bad for one tiny decision to drink water.

My Crystal Ball is in the shop

Around the time I made the decision that would hatch Sudden.Write.Turn., I picked up the fall class catalog for Genesee Center for the Arts and Education.  In a coup of timing, I get into the coveted Block-Cutting and Spoon Printing Class, where something inside me awakens.  A few minutes in the Letterpress shop and I know that I need to try Letterpress, too, which I do in a Saturday workshop just after Christmas. The decision to change my life opens a door in my mind to a place that is, simply, possibility.

At the end of April I will begin the 8 week long Letterpress Class at GCAE. A year ago I would have called you crazy if you told me that I would now be preparing to learn how to set type and run a press. I can only imagine what, a year from now, I might be doing. Tiny decisions can lead to big changes.

A thousand dollars gained. Sixty-five pounds lost. A decade-plus of pain vanished. What are you waiting for?