Let's Make a Choice!

I choose Door #3, Monte! 

Choices in life are many and just like on the old TV game show Let’s Make a Deal, our choice can be either the blessing of a new car (Door #1) or the curse of a man on a donkey (Door #3).  Choices can be a blessing when an exact replica of the $150 designer shoe you’ve been wanting is at Payless for $30; a curse when it comes in five different colors and you don’t know which one will go with one of three outfits that you have to choose for your date night, and you want to make sure that everything matches the new glittery purse you bought after mulling over that choice for 30 minutes at Macy’s.  *sigh* 

It all starts when we’re infants and we make choices through body movements and eye contact.  At one year of age, our choices start to become more deliberate and less instinctual.  At two and three, we are “me” centered and we make choices based on a very limited point of view (I’m not a mom, but I tend to think that’s when parents become more focused on “offering” the choices of “no!” or “no!”).  One of my earliest memories of making a choice was when I was three or four years of age.  The doctor stopped by the house (when they used to make house calls) to see my brother and I chose to run upstairs and hide.  Nope, that awful doctor was not going to get his hands on me!  I absolutely believed that I made the absolutely correct choice at that time. Then, as a teenager, I remember making the “wise” choice of going to the local swimming hole after school, with my friends, and not telling my mom.  It was a fun afternoon…up until the consequence of that choice, when mom made it clear that the “wise” choice had moved into the category of “What were you thinking?”

As adults, we make personal choices every day – plain or flavored coffee, black or brown shoes, go to the gym or stay in bed, buy a new car or get the old one fixed – and we always hope they are good, positive choices that give us peace of mind.  I’ve made extremely good choices in life with friends, church community, eating habits, my job, my furry kids, my favorite pair of jeans, deciding to sleep in on a Saturday morning, to name a few. Unfortunately, reality pops in to replace hope and peace when our choices go awry, when we veer toward the “What were you thinking?” category.  I’ve made a few of the gone-awry choices in my life – choices that have impacted me emotionally and financially, choices that have affected me to the core of my being, choices that make me, at times, want to rue the day.  Bad choices can be a quick trip to self-doubt and self-resentment and laying on the couch feeling sorry for yourself.

And, so, at those times, I remember the words of Eleanor Roosevelt.

“We all create the person we become by our choices as we go through life. In a real sense, by the time we are adults, we are the sum total of the choices we have made.”  

Eleanor was such a cool lady.  While I could let her words scare me (have my choices made me a messed-up adult?), I choose to look at what Eleanor said in a different light.  I choose to accept the person that I am because of the choices I have made, good or bad.  I choose to know that my bad choices have made me wiser, smarter, stronger, and a person with faith, while all of my good choices have given me a sense of peace, wonderful relationships, and some very cool shoes.   My lifelong choices will stand and I will continue to make more until I take my last breathe, when the sum total of who I am is complete.  As for right now?  My choice is to annoy enlighten and entertain all of my friends with annoying thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud blogs.  It’s my choice, good or bad.

Thought of the Day:  Have you made a choice in your life that has had a significant impact in your life?  If you could go back, would you choose differently?  If yes, how would it change your life?