Better the Devil You know

One of the many sayings of my mother when I was young was “better the devil you know than the devil you don’t”.

To be honest, in my youth, I did not know any devils. And I was surprised she did. She was a saint!

Years have passed and I don’t speak to the wisest woman of my life as often as I should any more, but thankfully she seemed to have spoken so much to me over the past 42 years that it finally is starting to sink in and make sense.

I guess when you don’t see some one you miss them more, when you don’t speak to them, you remember the words they spoke previously.

And so I remember the words of  my mother, and thankfully age has made me a touch wiser and a little quicker on the understanding of her wisdom.

Strangely it happens to be at this very time that I find I am leaving a current employ for this very reason.

Friends , or at least work colleagues and I had worked for several years with someone we deemed less than ideal. Fact is, said person did a fair job based on parameters of the position offered. I can not explain, more than to say, we all have our job description and those who both hinder and assist the same.

She was caught between us who demanded more and those above her that demanded less, or at least forgave her for less.

And so when time came for her life change and a career move, well, we welcomed the change.

And of course this is where I should have listened more intently to my mother. Having sought a change and welcomed the new person on board, well that was the last happy days of our lives. All else went down hill following. 

We would all gladly welcome back the old days, forgive the mistakes and  forget the problems , just for the peace calm and happiness we actually enjoyed back then, certainly compared to now.

Some times it truly is better to stay in a less than ideal situation rather than risk making a change and winding up in a spot that's even worse.

But that brings me to another saying, “Hindsight is a vision 20/20”. Indeed it is. In looking back to the past we can see the mistakes and find the answers, which we could not at the particular time. Everyone can be smart after the fact.

But of course, as with everything, I find that the saying about, “better the devil you know”, has aged a little the same as my mother.

You see, back was a time when it was indeed better to “put up”, with a problem rather than suffer a change.

In today’s world, we simply suffer as long as we can and then , without a positive outcome, we have choices.

And choices it has come to.

Life is too short to suffer at the hands of fools and those out to cause grievance merely to cover up their own complacencies and incompetancies.

“In the end, its not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years that matters”.

And we should all live this philosophy.

 It does not matter whether you are single, married, employed, un employed, happy or sad, we all have a predetermined length of life.

Whoever made us, decides our fates.

It’s the days in between that are up to us.

Some “devils” will be sent along to test you, some we should put up with as the other option could be worse. But if in the end there is no choice; leave.

Happiness is up to us individually. No one else can make you happy if you are not feeling it inside.

If you are not happy, first ask why? Sometimes its not the people around you that’s the problem as you may think, it could be you who has simply outlived or out stayed your current situation. Seek a change, find peace and happiness inside yourself and you will find the same in life.

And so, I’m off. Off to make sure the life in my years truly counts. Newer shores await and the tally of my travels , currently standing at 79 countries , hopes to grow larger faster.

To my friends and colleagues traveling too, may the wind blow swiftly and safely at your backs and remember , in the words of Henry Miller, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

And may we see many new things in the countries on which our feet are about to disembark.