In life there are always choices to be made, and it is impossible to live out every single scenario that is available to us. For some people, there may be one central goal that is important to them; unless they achieve this goal, they feel that they will never be truly satisfied or fulfilled. With goals of this kind, there are often sacrifices to be made, not only by the person who has harboured the goal or desire, but also by the people close to them.
For example, I knew a woman who had a good job in education. She had a husband and a son, and they lived comfortably in a nice house. The woman had an ambition to be helping people in the poorer parts of Africa, and she felt that she needed to do this for her life to have been worth something. Therefore, she gave up her well-paid job in education, and she and her husband had to take their son out of the prestigious private school he had been attending. These were not easy decisions to make and caused many heated discussions between the woman and her husband. Taking their son out of his school was a big bone of contention, as the act could affect his entire future. Nonetheless, after much discussion the couple decided that it was the right decision, especially as travelling to Africa would be beneficial to their son’s education of the world.
The woman did indeed pursue her interest in Africa. She gave up work and dedicated her time to volunteering for two separate charities. This desire meant that she and her family had to make sacrifices, but she achieved her goal. Interestingly, in this case, although the woman was the person who had the goal, her whole family had to make sacrifices in order to help her. The husband and the son were not really reaping any benefits from her desire to help poor people in a developing continent, so some may ask why they were prepared to make such large compromises. It seems that it must be because they loved her and wanted her to be happy, and so were prepared to forgo certain luxuries in order to help her achieve her desire.
There are many stories such as this, taking place every day and all over the world. As humans, we have desires, many of which conflict with other desires. The process of prioritising such goals and choosing one over another is difficult and complex, especially when there are other people involved who will be affected by the decision. Many people know someone who has either given up a travelling opportunity for a romantic relationship, or who has given up a romantic relationship for a travelling opportunity. Again, it comes down to which of the desires is stronger, as to which the person will eventually choose. It seems that the amount of sacrifice that is required depends on the size of the desire. For example, a person may choose to buy a new outfit one week, knowing that it means they cannot have a take-away dinner that week as a result.
Where there is a large goal or desire, it seems that certain sacrifices have to be made in order to achieve the goal or desire. The larger the goal, the bigger the sacrifice. Furthermore, the larger the goal, the more likely it is that other people will also have to make sacrifices, even if it is not their ambition.
