It’s Your Choice
Recently a man named Reon Schutte spoke to a group of us about his traumatizing 12 years 8 months in a Zimbabwean prison (ranked one of the worst in the world) for pretty much being in the wrong place at the wrong time – it was sobering to say the least!
There were a few great life lessons to takeaway, but the one that resonated the most with me only happened when I complained about ‘having’ to eat pizza later that evening as I was not home in time for my normal healthy dinners. Then someone commented jokingly “like Reon talked about, everything in life is a choice and you CHOSE to put the pizza in your mouth!”. It seems silly to think that that was my epiphany moment, but it was!
Since then I have realised how much this applies to everything.
Every day we consciously or more often subconsciously make choices to do, to say, or to act in certain ways. But when we make a choice and don’t like the outcome, we primarily blame other people or situations for why we did or did not do something.
It’s about an attitude of taking ownership….
A few everyday examples I’m now aware of are;
People who are ALWAYS late and then blame it on traffic or something of the like – it was your decision to leave at the time you did, next time CHOOSE to leave earlier.
People who can’t find a job – there are hundreds of jobs out there, in my opinion there’s lack of employable people not lack of jobs. CHOOSE to be someone a company wants to employ, and CHOOSE not to be picky, you have to start somewhere!
And then one I’m guilty of, but am working on! Receiving speeding fines or parking tickets – don’t get angry you got one! To get these tickets you obviously made a CHOICE to ignore the risk of getting one. So calm down and suck it up – it was your CHOICE.
I’m sure you get the picture, so I’ll stop there before it turns into a rant of things people do that annoy me….
Think of the things in your life you’re not happy with or complaining about. Could it be that you can make a CHOICE today to change those things?
Remember it’s your life and you’re the product of your own decisions – so own it!
