You always have a choice

So let’s talk about something else I say a lot: “you always have a choice”. It’s a really simple but powerful concept to remember that there are always options.

Now right off the bat I can imagine some of you thinking that the spiked my coffee this morning, or began happy hour early because you may, right now as you’re reading this, feel stuck! Or maybe you are reeling from choices you didn’t make and are now forced to deal with!

But if you pause and think about it, you’ll realize that in fact you do have choices.

You may not like what’s happening around you. You may not agree with the decisions other people have made. (This is definitely the season of “other’s decision dissatisfaction”, that’s for sure!). But you ALWAYS have a choice in what you do with that.

I know, I said this was simple!!

So, since you have a choice, you should feel a bit (and perhaps only a bit) better!  You can respond in peace. You can decline to accept what they’ve offered. You can walk down another path, change directions and even change your mind. You can determine, given the things you cannot control, what is best for you given what you CAN control.

I know these may not be the full panoply of choices you would like, but don’t ever let anyone, including yourself, tell you that you don’t have a choice, because you always do!

And I’d be remiss if I didn’t call out that this isn’t always as easy as ‘choosing peace’ or ‘doing what is best for me’. Sometimes the best we can do to choose acceptance in a way that enables us to move forward, while recognizing the very real pain, loss or the burden. Often we do have to proceed with things we would never choose. 

Sometimes the people we love stop loving us back.  Sometimes those we love pass away. (Be such a loss with or without notice, surely we would all choose more time.) Perhaps your dog went over the rainbow or ran way.  Have you lost a job? Lost a favorite, sentimental piece of jewelry? Sometimes we hear the words we prayed would never come <insert your deepest fears and heartbreaks here>.  But if you’re reading this, than no matter the aforementioned pain, loss or burden, you STILL have a choice!

Your power to choose is just that – yours!  Please don’t give it away. Choose wisely beloveds – you always have a choice!