I had never experienced unstable emotions until I got to university. It was there that I became aware of mood swings, or people not speaking to you out of the blue. This kind of rubbed off on me, and I did not like it.
I took some time off, to find out how I could deal with these unstable emotions. At the end of 3 days of personal reflection, this statement came to me — “You have a choice”
Life Changing Words
A simple 4-word statement, transformed my life, and how I interact with others.
I realized then, that whatever the circumstances, I had a choice about what to make it mean, and how to react or respond to it. Whatever thoughts or emotions came up for me, I could choose to either wallow in them, or determine how to behave.
I was in my early 20’s then, but this taught me that my circumstances, my thoughts, and my emotions did not have to control me. I controlled them. I had a CHOICE.
From that moment, I was constantly aware of the choices that I made, good or not good. This gave me the ability to OWN my choices, and change them when I needed to.
Life Happening To You
I have had the opportunity to talk to various people, the majority of whom, are letting life happen to them.
This shows up for them in various ways, like stress, anxiety, sadness, feelings of failure or inadequacy, overwhelm, unmet goals, unimplemented plans, or personal desires that are neglected for years.
The summation of all this, was them feeling Unfulfilled or Unsuccessful.
One of the people that I talked to was an outlier, they were being intentional about their life. They reminded me of choice. They had found the courage to make uncomfortable and unconventional choices, to create a life that mattered to them. They were making choices about the life they wanted, and not letting life happen to them.
Not Choosing Is A Choice
Letting life happen to you, is actually a choice.
Just as you can choose to sacrifice yourself, to ignore your desires, to not pursue your goals, to not implement your plans, and to not care about your well-being: you can choose to make YOU, your desires, your goals, your plans, and your well-being a priority.
You can choose YOU.
Choosing YOU Requires Work
However, the reality is that choosing YOU, requires work.
- In order to choose not to suffer, you have to do the work to facilitate your comfort.
- In order to choose to not stay stressed, you have to create an environment where you can be calm.
- In order to choose to not be sad, you have to find ways to cultivate your own happiness.
It is easy to choose to let life happen to you. It takes courage to choose what YOU WANT, and to put in the work to get it, and to maintain it.
You have a choice. You CHOOSE.