Power of Choice
Did you know that when you woke up this morning, you woke up with a gift? That gift is the power of choice. Not only is it a gift, but it’s also a right you get to enjoy each day. And the better you understand it, the more transformative your life can be. No matter what your situation may be, and the challenges that you're facing, you always have a choice. Your choice may be between two things or many things, but that power of choice lies in your hands. That power of choice gives you an opportunity to move toward a path in your life to make positive and amazing changes.
We make choices throughout our day. Some, of course, are more impactful than others. Everything from whether we're going to hit the snooze button that morning to whether we're going to work on our our recovery. It's truly exciting how many things in our life we have the power to choose.
We choose to be optimistic.
We choose to be pessimistic.
We choose to hang on to anger and bitterness.
We choose to let it go. (or to do our best to let go).
We choose to work on ourselves.
We choose to remain stagnant.
We choose to isolate.
We choose to reach out.
We choose to love.
We choose to hate.
We choose to heal.
We choose to numb.
Having the power to choose gives us an opportunity to decide which path our journey will take us. It puts us in the driver's seat of our destiny. If you're like me, you may have made some choices in the past, or even in the present, that were not so great. Now, we can look at those choices and see them as growth opportunities. This way, if you're presented with those choices again, you’ll have the knowledge and the power to choose differently. Remember, we're all works in progress, no matter where we are in our growth, recovery or healing process.
The exciting thing about choice is the possibility that any kind of change is possible. We can always do better than we did yesterday or an hour ago. We approach things with a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.
A fixed mindset is when someone has this belief that things are unchangeable. That change isn't possible. That reminds me of the saying “once an addict, always an addict,” because it makes it seem like change isn't possible and things feel hopeless.
Of course, we know that in recovery, we have to always have an awareness, but we also know that we choose sobriety. Every day we make a choice to stay sober. Every day we make a choice to heal and grow. We choose positive changes in our life. That openness to change is an example of a growth mindset. We can always do better than we did yesterday or an hour ago.
Managing challenging choices:
Talk to someone.
Ask for help (counseling, life coach, support group).
Write a pros and cons list of your options.
Journal.
Word vomit.
List each option, then honestly evaluate them.
Look at each choice as if it was for a friend instead of you. What would you tell them to do?
Give yourself the gift of time; no rush decisions.
Sending everyone happy and healthy vibes,
Laura
