?I regret not having to study well enough to enter the science stream with my friends?

?I should have auditioned for that part in the play but I was afraid and now it is just too late?. We have all heard such statements before; perhaps from ourselves. These are statements about wasted opportunities.

Everyday, life presents us with opportunities, mainly little opportunities but sometimes big ones too. These opportunities can be either positive or negative. Someone invites us to try smoking. That is a negative opportunity. A new student joins school and we have an opportunity to make a new friend. That is a positive opportunity. A negative opportunity lessens one's ability to be a better person. A positive opportunity brings personal enrichment in one's life. Many positive opportunities are presented to us daily but we hardly ever take them up. Failure to respond could be due to our internal makeup; that is our attitudes, beliefs, values, perceptions and behaviour. It would also be due to external circumstances beyond our control. For example if someone wins a scholarship to study abroad but is unable to raise enough money for living expenses, he is unable to seize this opportunity.

However, most often, it is our mental make up that block and hinders an effective response to a positive opportunity. One way could be how we each perceive things. For example, if there is a mathematics club in school and we are weak in maths, should we join the club? Actually this is an opportunity to get better in the subject. If instead of joining the club we avoid doing so because we will be embarrassed by our weakness in the subject, it is a wasted opportunity.

At other times, we miss opportunities because we are indifferent to the opportunities around us. We think we have no time to involve ourselves with anything or anyone else beyond our little circle of friends and interests. It could also be that we are unaware of the opportunities surrounding us. Often, we are so wrapped up in living our lives or pursuing our narrow interests that other things, or people, on the fringes of our lives do not interest us at all. Here again are wasted opportunities. People actually live richer lives because of their involvement in a variety of interests.

Sometime we do not recognize opportunities. We hesitate to try something we have not tried before. For instance, if we have an opportunity to interview a local sports personality, we are normally shaky and afraid. This is an opportunity to grow in a new area. We are unwilling to take up the challenge. We are afraid to go beyond our comfort zone. Who knows what new opportunities a new friend or a new club or just a new book will bring?

To make sure we grab every opportunity at improving ourselves and living richer lives, we should cultivate an attitude to always respond to positive opportunities that life presents us with daily. We should be awake, alert and willing to listen and respond to opportunities that come our way. If we respond to opportunities, our whole lives could be changed. New opportunities are challenges and life without any challenges would be dull and very boring indeed. We should never be in a position that we look back and regret all the wasted opportunities in our lives.