I’d love to share a pop-culture personal growth/entrepreneurial observation:

Every time I say no to an opportunity, it feels like I’m in the final scene of Dumb and Dumber.

Have you seen the movie?

It’s a cult-classic.

In that final scene, a bus full of beautiful women pulls up to the two “dummies” who, not a minute before, express how much they’d love for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to come their way.

The women say they’re looking for two men to come on their world bikini tour (or something of that sort) and oil their backs for them.

The “dummies” point the women in the direction of the nearest town and wave goodbye.

Duh. The audience laughs.

But wait!

Minuted later, as the bus pulls away, the pair realizes they’ve made a huge “mistake” and run after the bus.

Movie-goers watch, with bated breath, waiting to see if they successfully catch up to the bus.

They do.

However, when the bus stops and the models appear in the doorway, the “dummies” explain that the town is in the other direction.

The two dum-dum’s wave goodbye, as the bus speeds away, once again.

They turn to one another and agree about one thing: that two men will become very lucky, very soon.

And then they move on with their day.

Some NO’s truly feel just like that.

We don’t always know what’s in front of us.

Opportunities may come our way that could have been once-in-a-lifetime.

We simply don’t know what they were, or how they’d turn out.

They may be staring us in the face, some of the time, but we’re just too busy to see them for what they are.

It’s ok. That’s life.

For every opportunity you didn’t take that turned out fantastic, think of the ones you have taken on, that have turned out incredible too.

It’s all in how you frame it. It’s all in the glass-half-full.

I’ll end this with a sprinkling of what my mom would likely have to say on this.

Regarding missed opportunities (she’s a wise source, with a side of comedy): shoulda coulda woulda.