Choices

We are faced with choices almost constantly. From what we eat for breakfast to how we spend our time each day. I believe the most important choice we can make is how we choose to react in the circumstances we are dealt, whether good or bad. Because even the bad can be good. Things will go wrong in life, but we have to learn to respond positively and look for the good in every situation. 

I look back on the choices I made even way back in highschool and can still see how they have affected my life today. One bad choice can create a negative snowball effect. I’ve learned after many years of trial and error, we DO choose our lives. We can’t sit around in our pity parties. We CAN change our situation. Sometimes it’s just a matter of changing our attitudes, or choosing to do something about it.

Are you happy with your life? 

We truly create our own realities. We have the ability to change things. Make our lives better. We CHOOSE it. This is something I didn’t really believe for a long time. I thought that things were happening TO me, and that I had no control over my happiness. Little did I know I could make my life anything I wanted it to be. We can’t change people unfortunately :), but we can choose not to allow them to steal our joy.

As many of you may know, I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I grew up in the church but of course there always comes a time when you have to ask yourself, Do I really believe what I’ve been taught? I think deep down I always believed, but I turned away from it for a few years. Probably because I felt guilty about the choices I was making. The further I was from the church the less guilty I felt. But also the more unhappy I became. My life wasn’t turning out the way I had always hoped it would.

I had dreams of marrying a trustworthy guy. Someone who loved and served God. I envisioned raising a family and teaching them good values. I wanted SUCCESS. Financial success. Success in marriage, in child rearing, in becoming who I was destined to be. I didn’t want to settle for mediocrity. I remember feeling like all was lost and that my life was just going to continue down this road and my dreams would never become a reality. After many years of not speaking to God I decided to simply ask him to help me. I was afraid to ask him for anything because I didn’t feel worthy. When I finally began praying to him again I felt his love and forgiveness. He made me realize the most amazing thing… I had the CHOICE! I could choose any kind of life I wanted.

As soon as I believed this, I knew that I needed to make some changes, starting with the relationship I was in. I knew it wasn’t right for me so I ended it. Then took the long hard road to a better life. Because even though we have the choice, it’s not always easy. Anything of value comes with a price. I knew that I needed to BECOME the kind of person I wanted to marry. So I spent a few years working on being that person. I always wanted to marry a returned missionary, so what did I do? I became a returned missionary :).

Serving my mission in Germany was probably the best choice I ever made, besides choosing to marry my husband of course. So what I’m trying to say here is, I learned that my choices were what created my life now. I don’t believe in luck. I believe that making good choices, allows Gods hand into our lives. He allows us to learn from the choices we make, but promises happiness from making GOOD ones.