Choices

We always have choices.

 That’s a bold statement that some would disagree with. I admit that sometimes we don’t feel like we have a choice. And certainly, sometimes we don’t like our choices. We can think we have too few or too many choices. We can be overwhelmed either way. What happens when we don’t choose? Guess what? We still have made a choice.

I believe it’s important to know we always have choices and to be conscious of the choices we make. It empowers us to know that we are choosing. We are setting the direction we want to go in our lives. The other part is taking responsibility for our choices and knowing we can always choose differently. If we don’t like the direction our life is taking, we can change that by choosing another way.

How often do you regret choices that you made?

I can for sure say I have beaten myself up plenty over choices. We base our choices on what we know when we make them. It only stands to reason that as we learn more we would choose differently. When we know more, we do better.

Growing up, I was taught that many times I didn’t have choices. It was what it was. Just suck it up and deal with it. So many of the choices I made were so I could fit in or to make someone happy. It was easier than choosing what I really wanted. Feeling like I didn’t have a choice led to resentment. In reality, I was living with a ‘victim mentality’. I blamed others for the choices I ‘had’ to make instead of taking responsibility and choosing what I wanted or needed.

 Choices aren’t always easy to make.

I find comfort in knowing that I can always choose something different if it doesn’t work out the way I wanted. I have also learned that realizing how I perceive things is also a choice. We get to choose how we look at things. Will we be critical, or will we be understanding and extend grace?

Choice is the most powerful tool we have.

Our possibilities are infinite. Our lives are defined by the choices we make. We can choose to accept things the way they are or we can be responsible for changing them. That’s real power. We choose every day how we show up. And we can choose to change how we do that every day. What will you choose today?

When we change the world changes.

When we change the world changes.