Cheers to Choices

I had an epiphany last night, one that may seem so obvious but was something I had never really seen quite so clearly.

I was brushing my teeth thinking about how I was choosing to go to bed instead of watching TV because I knew I wanted to get up this morning and go for a run instead of sleeping in. In that moment it struck me just how many choices we all have each and every day.

We are faced with choices and make decisions all day long every single day. Most of the decisions we make so automatically we don’t even realize we have a choice in the matter, or at least that’s the case for me. I automatically turn off the alarm on my phone in the morning and start scrolling through my emails, texts and Instagram or Facebook without even pausing to decide if that’s how I want to spend the next 15-20 minutes of my morning. But in that moment I choose to do that even though it often means I feel rushed the rest of the morning. Here’s the catch though, when I feel rushed the rest of the morning I take no responsibility for it I just feel flustered without realizing I actually chose to have a rushed and stressful morning when I used those 15-20 minutes to scroll through things on my phone instead of getting up.

I’m sure I’m not alone in this, right? These things we do automatically are choices. And the choices that we make, big or small, shape our days which shape our lives.

It might be obvious to some, but I had never thought of brushing my teeth or the other tiny moments of my day as choices, but truly they are and choices always have an effect, be it positive, neutral or negative.

I want to practice being more aware of my automatic habits and the choice I have in them. I’m going to work on being more conscious of the choices I make so that I can be more intentional with them, I’d like my choices to reflect my beliefs, values and goals.

M