We have so many choices in life. From outfits to colleges to cars and mates and whatnot the choices are absolutely endless! In fact there are so many choices that we make every day that we don’t even realize we’re making them at all. Little things like not saying hello to a neighbor you pass at the mailbox or smiling at a cashier when they hand you your change. Harmless. Simple. You choose to complain about your boss or your bills or what have you. You choose to ignore your mom’s voicemail or the trash that should have been taken out two days ago. You choose to be late for work or a friend’s birthday party.

You also choose how others see you to a certain extent. Your demeanor is a choice. Your insecurities are a choice. Your fears and frustrations can be but are not always a choice. Who you are as a person, while made up of all of the many experiences of your lifetime, is also a choice.

For example, I used to work in a cubical right next to this guy who would eat the smelliest food and slurp everything (soup, water, coffee, spaghetti, you name it!) loudly! He would burp aloud and even farted more than once without so much as a word of apology or acknowledgement. He always walked around as though the world loved him and I was always surprised by how many people thought he was just great. But that was his choice. I’m sure many of those same people would be horrified to know of his gaseousness and poor manners. I certainly could have told him to take it elsewhere, but I never did. That was my choice.

Everyone knows someone who they think is a total dick or bitch or whatever. But hey, that is their choice! It is also my choice to keep drama-magnets out of my life. Sorry, you may be a totally cool-intelligent-deep-sweet person, but I just don’t need any of that nonsense in my life, my choice. We have far more control over our lives than we think. Yet we are so damn quick to pass judgment on others when all they did was make a very simple choice. Likes and dislikes are choices based on your own preference, just because someone made a different choice than your own does not make them any more or less of a person than you.

What I must remind myself of everyday is how you approach and react to things are choices, too. When my alarm clock goes off it is my choice to groan and hit snooze. It is my choice to get annoyed or angry at someone who cuts me off on the freeway. I could very easily have made a different choice. Realizing this has given me more patience and far less worry. I don’t have good days and bad days, they are relative. If you ask me I may say it was a good day, but I’d prefer to tell you about the day itself rather than label the whole thing a wash or a success.