On Christmas day, we decided to go to the beach. Back in Colombia, where we come from, we celebrate on Christmas eve, so on Christmas day we rest. So, the beach seemed like a fine idea.
We were aware that in Australia there are not many things operating on Christmas day, so we had a late and generous breakfast and were headed towards the beach.
We had a lovely time by the water. The Sun was out and strong, so we found a shaded area where we could rest without being roasted by the heat. We sat down and later took a little siesta that felt like heaven, as we were lulled by the sound of the waves breaking on the beach.
Hunger started to appear, our stomachs started to rumble, so we decided to adventure and find a place to eat. As predicted, the cafes that were located by the water were all closed, so we decided to take a drive and see whether we could find food without having to wait for the drive back home.
We agreed we didn’t want to eat at one of the common fast food places, which of course was open. We kept driving a little more and suddenly we saw a place by the main street, which although it didn’t look as good as the cafes that were by the water, we thought could offer us more quality food than the fast food chain. I wasn’t impressed with the menu, but thinking this was the best we would be able to find, we settled and decided to order some food.
After ordering, I had a bad feeling and decided to search for feedback about this place. The reviews were not great, but we had already decided and waited for the food to arrive.
As per the reviews, the quality of the food was terrible. There was more crumble than actual food, the fish didn’t feel fresh, the mixture was too salty and so on. We did eat what we could, satisfying our immediate need for food, but were left with a terrible after taste and a disgusted sensation after having eaten garbage, bad quality food.
We got back into the car, getting ready to head back home. As we were looking for the way to return to the main road, we had to go around the corner. To our surprise, there, on the same block we had just settled for disgusting food, there were about 5 good quality restaurants next to each other. It totally felt like a big joke. If only we had waited one more minute, we would have found all these beautiful restaurants and would have had amazing food.
This left me thinking on how many times we do this in life. Not necessarily with food and with such short lasting consequences as the ones from our experience, but with much more important events in our life. Instead of waiting a little more for the job, the relationship, the friend, the house that we would really like, we settle for whatever we find on the road, so we are not left alone, or without the pay and so on.
Be clear about what you want in your life and do not settle for less. What you want may just be around the corner.
Are you settling for less than you deserve?