Do I Have Enough Thread?

When is time enough?

I've heard it said that age does not equal wisdom, rather experience equals wisdom. This is why in some regards a younger person maybe more wise than an elder if the elder has done little living or the youth has done exceptional amounts with his/her years.   There is if course an element of time here.  Time must pass for experiences to be had and lessons to be learned and consequences to be felt. Which is why age correlates to wisdom. But it isn't really wisdom I want to talk about.

I'm not sure the word. The question I want to answer is when has enough time passed that a person can make a decision based on experience?  When has a person spent enough time in a given set of circumstances that they can then make use of that experience to make decisions about the future? How much time is required for that experience to be credible and used as a valid data point?

How many years of experience is needed as an apprentice before becoming a journeyman or craftsman? How much time is required as an hourly employee before they can consider themselves ready for management? When does someone gain the title of "expert" based on experience? How long must two people spend together before they can plan to be something more?

How much time must pass for someone else to be considered in the decision making process?  When does it become acceptable (whatever that means) for a person to plan for a future when the past is short?  How can one plan to weave a life with someone else when the past is barely enough thread to tie a knot, never mind something strong enough to anchor a ship.

Is it really all about time?  To continue the tread and tapestry analogy, is the thread only as long as the time spent together? Is it perhaps much longer, as long as the two parties have life and share that life the threads twist and braid and knot together forming something stronger, something new.  So the older the people, the longer the initial thread and thus the sooner it can begun to weave into something more.

Maybe thread is a bad analogy.

Maybe it is all about risk. I'm never one to shy away from risk. I've always said yes to every adventure put forward to me. I've experienced a lot of life in my years.  Now I seem to be sitting at the crux of another decision. The proverbial two paths in the woods. I'm balancing so finely along the edge of a knife's blade that is quickly coming to an end. I need to decide which side I want to slip down. Which side of the wave? Ride the surf into shore or slip down the back and out to open sea?  Which adventure do I want to try?

Have I spent the time to know the answer? To weigh the options? To feel confident in being risky? To feel comforted in being safe?

Whenever I ask others for their perspective it always seems to come back to time. "How long have you been with him?" I don't know what number makes the decision different but everyone seems to have an opinion and everyone seems to think there hasn't been enough thread spun to anchor a ship.

I'm not sure who's the anchor and who's the ship. I'm not much for open seas.  But I'm even less for safe harbors.