Sacrifice

Sacrifice: a loss entailed by giving up or selling something at
less than its value.

I have really been thinking about the idea of sacrifice. It is a commonly accepted idea that in order to get what you want you must give something away at a loss. The more I think about this idea, the more unsure of it I grow. To get a new pair of shoes you must pay $70.00, to keep friends you must spend time communicating and staying in touch, to loss that extra 5 pounds you have to go without that chocolate donut, there is always a trade off. There is a decision to be made... you can go one of 2 ways.

(A.) Do what gets you closer to your ultimate goal (ex. new
shoes, life-long friendship, lost weight)

(B.) Do something else (save the $70.00, read a book instead,
enjoy the chocolotey goodness)

What is the difference between a decision and a sacrifice? I realize that a sacrifice usually has a negative association with it... it is a loss. A decision is not necisarrily good or bad, it is simply a crossroad.

Decision: a position or opinion or judgment reached after
consideration.

The other thing to consider about a sacrifice, if you accept it more simply as a decision, is that you really aren't forced to give something up. It is impossible to have both, you can not have your cake and eat it too. There for what you feel like you are "giving up" you are just going without... and it is impossible to avoid this in any decision. You can not keep your $70.00 and get the shoes. You can not talk to your friend and read your book at the same time (at least not very effectively). You can not eat the donut and loss the weight. There for you are not really giving one or the other up, since you didn't ever have it to start with.

It's not so much a sacrifice because without making a decision, and taking one, you essentially have niether. By making a sacrifice you are actually gaining something either way, although it is also true that you have therefor forgone something else, but you aren't giving it up, you are going without.

Every day of our life we make thousands and millions of small decisions and with every decision a door closes and our possibilities diminish, but also with every decision we are directing our life and moving forward, rather than standing still. You have to let go of the things you can't have or don't have any longer, try not to base your decisions on what you stand to loss and not think of it as a risk, but an opportunity and consider what you have to gain. You can't go back and change what has happened, and even if you find a source of blame or failure or mistake it won't lessen the wrong... all you can do is build and grow and develop into something greater... you can only add and never take away from your life. You can paint over and build on top of, but it is always there, there for you to make something beautiful and grand out of.

Maybe I have this all wrong, but isn't it easier to accept a sacrifice if you can look at it this way?