You Always Have A Choice

“You can either walk up the stairs or I’ll carry you; it’s your choice.”

I remember hearing my sister say that to one of her children several years ago. It was time for bed and my niece, like any reasonable child would do, was protesting. Brilliant, right? Think about it. In the end, her daughter was still going to bed. However, by giving her the choice (both with the same outcome in then end), my niece felt empowered.

You Always Have A Choice

Of course, this got me thinking. I posted the following “reminder” on Twitter this morning (Fellow Blue Sky Factory co-worker, Melanie Sims, replied, “I choose awesomeness!” … which made me smile):

Ok. I realize that you don’t always have a choice. I’m sure there are situations where their are no options, but for the most part, I’d argue that life is all about choices. Some are simple and likely don’t matter either way: “Do I wear the white shirt or the blue one?” Others are more complex and can have significant outcomes: “Do I reply publicly to that negative comment on our blog or take it offline?” or “Should I accept job offer A or is B better?”

Sometimes you will make the “wrong” choice; other times it will be “right”, but you still have a choice. As my mom always tells me, whatever you choose, you have to live with the consequences.

What are your thoughts about choice? Do you agree that you always have a choice? How do you know which choice is the right one?

DJ Waldow
@djwaldow

Suzanne Vara

You are so right here. I am going to go out on a limb here (save me if I go too far) by saying that yes there are some times that you do not have a choice but, when the decisions is made for you, you now have a choice with what you do with it. So really we do always have a choice when we look at it this way.

Many times we know the right choice as it is very clear others we feel that risk and depending upon how great we perceive the risk is accepting the consequences that come and not look back.

Great post DJ as I know too well what happens when choices are made for us. Reading this and then thinking about my comment shed some light for me in that I can make the best of it or mope around woe is me. You guys are all too good to me.

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DJ Waldow

Agreed, that sometimes decisions are made for you. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, right? I do love that it still all comes back to you ... YOU have a choice.

Thanks for weighing in, as always.

-dj

Wendy Keneipp

DJ, Yes! We always have a choice. This is one of my favorite topics, and I love that you wrote about it - and appreciated your Tweet earlier today. This is an amazingly powerful self-realization when understood and put into practice. You're right, we may not always be able to choose our actions, or as Matt noted, our reactions, but we can always choose our personal responses. And those responses set us up for future situations.

For example, we're given a negative set of circumstances - we can choose to consistently respond negatively, and we will continue to experience unhappiness and negativity. We are choosing unhappiness. However, we can accept the circumstances for what they are and create a new normal with factors around which we can control, and we're setting ourselves up for future success. We're choosing happiness. It may be an altered vision and version of happiness, but happiness, nonetheless.

Yes - we always have a choice! : )

Wendy - Thanks so much for your comments! Choose happiness - love that.

Matt Fox

I think the best way to say it is you may not always have a choice in the action to take (however you often do) but you have a choice in your reaction to the results. We just aren't always aware of the option at first.

Well said.

Great point Matt. Love the reaction choice...

You Always Have A Choice