THE CHOICE IS YOURS

Do you ever feel like there has to be more to life than this?

“This” could mean anything to anyone in many different ways.

This could be going to the same unfulfilling job every day to be faced with the same problems caused by the same people.

It could be promises that were made to you financially time and time again but not fulfilled due to someone else’s personal gain. It could be conflict, disappointment and stress that has found a home amongst your friendship circles. It could be a toxic relationship that one way or another you feel bound to, trapped and suffocated. These things are demotivating, they burden us - whether we’d like to admit it or not, they emotionally drain us and impact every aspect of our lives. When we’re alone we think to ourselves “What’s the point?”, “I give up”, “I’m over it”, “I’m stuck and I have no choice” I know this way of thinking too well - I used to think that way. I remember sitting alone at the Royal Botanical Gardens looking out at the water and asking myself - What is my purpose? Surely I have one. I can’t be here for no reason at all. All of the challenges I’ve faced, couldn’t possibly lead to a life of mediocrity - could they? At that moment I realised, I shouldn’t just be feeling okay I should be feeling happy, excited, driven and motivated for something - not just content with masking my current circumstances with a four letter word. From a young age we are conditioned to think and behave in a certain way. Our parents instilled their beliefs of right and wrong, they pass on their religious beliefs and cultural traditions. Our home was where we learnt how to treat other people and our parent’s behaviour towards each other was how we learnt how to love another human being. TV, music, books, and movies - all of these things have contributed to how we see things today, which is why each individual’s idea of “normal” is completely different. As we get older we don’t think about these thing, we’re on auto pilot, so when negative circumstances should arise or behavioural patterns keep repeating themselves, I often wonder if we feel like we have no choice because we aren’t consciously aware of another option. Many years ago, people were married by the age of twenty one. The man’s role would be to work and provide for his family and the woman would stay home cook, clean and be a mother to their children. Divorce was heavily frowned upon and if an “accident” should happen, there were little to no options available for women. – That’s just the way it was. Fast forward 50 years and times have changed. The traditional roles of males and females are not what they used to be – Does it make you any less of a man if you do the dishes? No. Does it make you any less of a women if you take out the trash? No. Today do we only accept okay because okay is all we know? Has everything we’ve been taught from a young age or that we’ve seen through the media made us believe that okay is an ideal way to live. As an individual how can you feel fulfilled and happy, if you live your life based on other people’s expectations of how your life is supposed to be? So what do you do? Do you stay in the job you hate forever, because it’s source of income? Is your friendship circle filled with people who uplift and inspire you or does it weigh you down with words of negativity and lack of enthusiasm? Is your relationship fun and exciting? Do you work well together, respect each other and complement each other in such a way that together you’re a force to be reckoned with? Or do you cringe when you see their name appear on your phone screen? All of these things I can’t answer for you, but the truth is we have a choice - We ALL have a choice. You can choose to continue walking down the okay path where the things around you aren’t bad, but they’re not great. Or you can make the decision to make a change. Whatever is weighing you down, whatever burden you may be carrying, you need to DECIDE that enough is enough! If you don’t decide to make some changes, you will already know where you’ll be this time next year – the same place, doing the same thing, with the same people. Time waits for no one and now is the time to take action. The choice is yours.