It's a Choice
I make the best out of hard things.
That’s what I do.
That’s what I’ve done.
In my life, nothing ever happens like I think it will.
Nothing.
Isn’t it funny how you dream one thing and you get another?
You dream all these details, believing this is how your life will turn out…
I can almost see it. All the details are perfect, and everything is working out wonderfully. And then what I get is something entirely different from what I expected.
That’s how it works, right?
And my reaction is always the same.
Every time.
I’m disappointed.
I might even be mad.
I get frustrated with my life because my dreams didn’t work out the way I wanted them to.
I start to think about all the mistakes I’ve made.
How it’s not fair.
I had dreamed one thing and got something totally different.
Did I make a mistake? Did I get what I deserve?
Yeah, maybe.
And then other times it turned out okay.
It worked itself out. And maybe I got something better.
Maybe it doesn’t look that way at first. I can’t necessarily see the good yet.
But it could be.
It’s not terrible.
It’s okay.
Yet that’s not normally how I respond.
Now I’m beginning to learn my life hasn’t been about getting what I want, when I want.
You know, it’s funny. As I write those words, I think about how I’ve heard them my whole life:
“We don’t get what we want, when we want.”
I’ve always known those words.
I’ve even said them many times.
Yet I didn’t really know them.
Not until now.
I knew what they meant, but I didn’t truly understand them until now.
I had to live them many times.
I just didn’t get it.
I didn’t unpack it.
I didn’t really break it down and understand the context until now.
Here is what I’m realizing.
It’s about rolling with the punches. Reacting to the changes right in front of me.
It’s never about yesterday.
And it can’t be about tomorrow.
It’s always now. It’s about how I react, now.
Am I okay with what’s happening around me, or not?
I get to choose.
I can be whatever I want to be.
I can be mad. I can be happy. I can be compassionate. I can listen. I can forgive. I can even be understanding.
Or not.
Every moment of my life, I get to choose.
I can roll in whatever direction I want to go.
I can be content, grateful, gracious, and appreciative of what I have.
I can choose to laugh it off when it’s not fair.
I can still smile, be happy, and have fun. And even make someone else smile and have fun, too.
Or I can be a jerk, ranting and raving about how unfair life is.
“Life is not fair.”
As I type those words, I think, is life really not fair?
I think it’s both. Yes and no.
It’s what I make of it.
It’s what I choose.
I can choose to believe whatever I want.
I can be positive and think positive things, or I can be negative and believe life isn’t fair.
I get the choice.
I do that.
Every. Single. Moment.
Me.
No one else gets to decide that for me.
It’s mine.
And you know what?
That’s fair.
It doesn’t get any more fair than that.
