In the tragically ironic words of Anne Frank – “we make our choices, then our choices make us”.
Whenever I speak to students, my theme normally focuses on the cruciality of ‘choices’. (Those acquainted with my irritating indecisiveness, at times struggling to choose a yoghurt flavour in the supermarket, may find this unbelievable ).
From early childhood, our lives revolve around choices – a motivational prospect in itself. We strive to choose well, but when we perhaps choose badly, we learn from those poor choices. However, remember, the same bad choice repeated, becomes a conscious decision. That 80 year-old repeatedly ‘choosing’ to hijack the only swimming lane, exhibiting her unique interpretation of breast-stroke at a glacial pace, miraculously without moving her dangling limbs – I’m ok with her choice.
Of course I’m not naïve – choice inevitably depends on circumstance. For people born into wealth, and health, choices are considerably less challenging. However for those born into more trying conditions, it’s even more admirable when you choose well, achieving those goals – take the challenging choices of Tokio Myers on his path to scooping first prize in ‘Britain’s Got Talent 2017’.
Having just returned from Kenya again, I’m only too aware that where we are born, as well as the colour of our skin, our physical characteristics, religion, sexuality, parenting, indecisiveness and other influences may all affect our choices.
Don’t live a life of regret. We are who we choose to be.
Regret – the ‘what-if’ factor – can eat us from the inside out for the remainder of our lives.
As children we choose who we want around us, those friends later becoming a reflection on us. We choose to spend time on phones/devices, instead of studying, and being sociable. We choose how to spend free time – to use it wisely, or waste it. We choose Leaving Cert subjects, which may determine the college/career path we choose.
These choices most likely won’t change the world, but they will change your world.
Childhood personal choices can determinine how we treat others, how educated and well-read we are, our careers, and the legacy we leave behind.
At the risk of sounding over-dramatic, our choices can determine whether we’re remembered for being the suicide bomber who extinguished lives on a boulevard, or the doctor who saved lives with ‘Médecins sans frontières’. Malala Yousafzai made inspired choices en route to Oxford University. So your choices can change the world, for better, for worse.
Regarding changing the world, it’s an increasingly scary prospect that we entrust politicians to make choices on our behalf. Unfortunately there’s little we can do except vote, but at least by choosing to vote, we’ve done as much as we can do to help better the world we live in.
Social networks make it easy for us to zone out of the ‘real world’, and waste our time in a ‘virtual world’. However we can choose to use the Internet to our advantage, while having fun and connecting with friends along the way. As in so many walks of life, it’s all about reaching that happy medium.
We’ll be a long time dead & I endeavour to live my life as fully as possible. Arguably, with this philosophy, choices, decisions and goals take on even greater significance. Adopting the well-worn adage that life’s not a rehearsal, we’re in charge of our own life – it won’t just happen on its own.
On an emotional, and ethical level, as Nelson Mandela said “no-one is born hating another person”, people must learn (choose) to hate, or to love and respect others.
We choose to be a worrier, or choose to adopt a more indifferent attitude towards stress.
We choose what we put into our bodies, and when and how to exercise.
We choose to be a bully, to be sexist, racist, homophobic ; or a supportive, tolerant, all-embracing member of the world community. Oftentimes what others think (incorrectly) influence the choices we make.
We choose to smile, or to frown.
We choose to hold onto the faith we’ve been brought up in, making it central to our lives. Or we can shop around, discover others, reject them all – it’s our choice.
When life knocks you down, you can choose to stay down, or get up and fight.
Thanks for choosing to read my piece on ‘choices’ – you can choose to agree, or disagree.
Keep questioning those choices.
