From My Perspective: Life is all about choices

Let’s face it, life is all about choices. The ones we make, the ones that are made for us, and even the ones we don’t make, which technically are still a choice.

There are everyday choices, like what do I wear or what do I have to eat, to life-changing choices, like do I take this new job, or do I move across the country or marry this person, and every choice in between.

We’re making choices from the time we are very young, usually right up until the time our lives on earth are over.

Sometimes the choice is a simple one, and sometimes choices in our lives are very difficult. There are the choices between right and wrong, the choice of a path to travel, choices in friends, and choices we make based on our thought and beliefs.

We make our choices and live with the consequences of them. When we were very young, our parents often made our choices for us. As we began to grow up, they offered us more choices, slowly passing the exchange from them to us, probably hoping they had taught us well to make the right choices for our lives.

Some of those choices were taught based on rewards and punishments. Cleaning your room and doing chores as asked could have garnered one an allowance, while not completing those tasks had those rewards taken away. Other choices were taught based on want and need. I don’t know about you, but I grew up with parents who would say, “you don’t need XYZ, you want it,” and then proceeded to tell me the difference between want (in my young days, it would have likely been a Barbie doll or a piece of candy), to need, which was something that couldn’t be lived without. In my young days, I actually did believe I couldn’t live without that Barbie doll, but they reminded me that a need was air, food, clothing, water, and so on.

As I got older, those choices included whether I listened to their rules, or paid the price for disobeying them. One of my parent’s biggest rules involved me doing as I was told and not answering or sassing back. Back in the day, I had quite the mouth, and while my mother didn’t subscribe to the washing of my mouth out with soap, she did subscribe to a “whack” across the face. My father often told me, “It’s not what you say, it’s the way you say it that gets you in trouble.”

Let’s face it, some things never change. I’d like to think I’ve gotten better at saying what I need to without resorting back to my younger days, but sometimes my choices in saying, or not saying things, still have a great effect in the life I lead.

One area I still struggle with in the area of choices is procrastination. Each week, I have a deadline to meet for articles and this column for the paper. I think how wonderful it would be to have everything done early, and then I make choices. Do I buckle down and get the job done, or do I go and do this more fun option. As you probably guessed, I opt for the more fun option, and then find myself completely stressed out and hitting the “send” button to email the information two minutes before (or sometimes after) said deadline. Each week I have the choice to do things differently.

In the weeks that follow, and as I move forward with some other things in my life, I have some new decisions and next steps in my journey that will force me to make some tough, life-changing choices. If I follow the path to destination A, which is something I have wanted to do for a very long time, it means stepping off the path to destinations B and C, of doing what has grown to be expected of me. In making these choices, I face the fear of letting some people down, or, letting myself down. Things in my life have been leading to this for quite some time. My lack of making a choice prior to this has cost me, and my cost of making these choices now and choosing something completely different will be something entirely new.

I wonder how many are out there like me, even right here in Lincoln, facing choices they have put off, sticking with a choice they made months ago, or not choosing at all, which as I mentioned earlier, is still a choice.

I wonder if people realize just how many choices are out there? I read once that we are only one choice away from a completely different outcome. The difference between the life we’re living now and the life we’ve dreamt of is just a simple choice away. What will we choose, and why will we choose it? It’s taken me awhile to make some of these new decisions. I invite those facing similar situations to really think about some of the things you’re facing. Really ponder the difference between the things you want and the life you’re living now.

And, once you’re done thinking about it, pondering it, do yourself a favor and make the choice.