C H O I C E !!!

You chose.

You chose.

You chose.

You chose to give away your love.

You chose to have a broken heart.

You chose to give up.

You chose to hang on.

You chose to react.

You chose to feel insecure.

You chose to feel anger.

You chose to fight back.

You chose to have hope.

You chose to be naïve.

You chose to ignore your intuition.

You chose to ignore advice.

You chose to look the other way.

You chose to not listen.

You chose to be stuck in the past.

You chose your perspective.

You chose to blame.

You chose to be right.

You chose your pride.

You chose your games.

You chose your ego.

You chose your paranoia.

You chose to compete.

You chose your enemies.

You chose your consequences.

You chose.

You chose.

You chose.

You chose.

However, you are not alone.

Generations of women in your family have chosen.

Women around the world have chosen.

We all have chosen at one time in our lives.

We stand behind you now screaming:

Choose to let go.

Choose dignity.

Choose to forgive yourself.

Choose to forgive others.

Choose to see your value.

Choose to show the world you’re not a victim.

Choose to make us proud.

It’s Your Choice.

(author unknown)

How did these words affect you when you read them?

Do you believe these words about choice are valid?

Is there something in these words that triggered you?

Is there something in these words that felt valuable to you?

The choices I’ve made, in any given situation, whether under duress, whether it seemed right or wrong at the time, or whether it felt as though there was no choice, was the only choice I had or thought I had in that moment. Many times, I could anticipate a certain outcome from that choice, many times there was no way to know where that choice would lead.

Some choices we must make can seem like they are triggered by destiny or fate. These don't feel like a choice at all, but they are still our choice. I’ll just name two personal choices that reverberated through the rest of my life and impacted me and those closest to me: After having had 2 children and adopting another, and 5 years after having had my tubes tied, I got pregnant anyway. I was 36 and absolutely couldn't imagine raising another child in my current circumstance. I could have chosen an abortion. That’s a choice I believe in, but it was a choice I simply couldn’t make for myself at the time. The choice to have my baby dramatically changed my life and brought another Being into the world, a beautiful Being that has been a joy to me and many others.

Here’s another: I made a choice to invest in a risky quick turnaround scheme to double my nest egg. That choice had risks unknown to me at first but my tummy and dreams warned me nightly. Magical thinking, a greed I didn’t realize I owned and my innate habit of risk-taking didn’t sway me from taking that plunge. That poor choice had a very dramatic impact on my financial future.

What do we do when faced with difficult or impossible choices? Though it may not feel like it, whatever we choose is our choice alone. A hurricane or tornado ravishes our home or town and all is lost. War ravishes an entire population and impacts generations to come. You carry your baby across two countries to reach asylum to be turned away at the border having risked everything for hope. You get a cancer diagnosis and decide to go full on with the current standard medical protocol or decide to commit to an alternative protocol – neither of which can actually guarantee a healing or remission – but you calculate a choice. You buy a Lotto ticket and win a bundle only to be endlessly bombarded by treasure seekers, grifters and unknown relatives who want what you've got. You fall in love, marry, do all the acceptable right things to thrive and it all goes to shit. Things happen, good and bad. They happen all the time.

When events spin completely out of control, and we’re left with the aftermath. Our choice is in what we decide to do then. Choice is how we frame, in our minds, the experience as good or bad - right or wrong. So, I’ve concluded that we’re essentially only able to choose our mind-set. What happens within or outside of our control is what happens. I believe our choice lies in what to think or do according to where we are in our evolution, our maturity, our faith, or what we believe to be our responsibilities. Obviously, I'm not the first to come to this realization. Choice is tricky even if we’re intuitive or psychic or have researched all the possible outcomes. It implies a deep dive into the unknown of Free Will ~ whatever that means. I hope to understand the vast implications of that gift one day.