The Power of Choice (especially now)
More and more people are getting restless. We’re feeling restricted. Isolated. Lonely. We’re feeling as if someone or something has imposed on our plans for 2020.
We’re feeling like someone is commanding us to stay in place and we have no control over how we respond.
It’s true. We are being told what to do.
We’re accustomed to shaping our reality. We’re accustomed to deciding what to do each day. We’re accustomed to choosing what we want our lives to look like.
But do we really have unlimited freedom to live our lives?
Think about it. We’re always (and have always) been held to specific guidelines and expectations.
We have to:
pay taxes
attend school (high school, higher education)
pay rent or mortgage
show up to work
We’re under a guise that we have the freedom to choose what we want to do each day… but do we really?
Why does this specific instance, social distancing amidst a pandemic, feel any different?
We have a choice in each of the aforementioned expectations.
We choose to file our taxes or not.
We choose which jobs we apply for, and then we choose which job we accept out of those offered. Then, by choosing that job, we agree to the job’s policies and procedures, which means we have to attend work each assigned day on time, attend staff meetings, turn projects in on time.
We choose whether or not we are going to attend college, and then post graduate school. Then, once in school, we agree to the school’s code of conduct and to turn in all assignments, take all scheduled exams, receive a specific GPA to graduate.
We choose where we want to live depending on how much money we’re willing to spend each month on rent. Then, we agree to our landlord’s Rental Agreement dictating what we can and cannot do in the apartment/house that we are renting.
There are pros and cons to each of the choices in the above equations, right? We learn early in life that there are consequences for our actions. We learn that if we get caught cheating on a test, we fail that test and receive detention. We learn that if we hit our sister, we get grounded. What we forget is that we always have a choice in the matter. We think that we HAVE to abide by the rules, but truth be told, we’re choosing to do so.
When we forget that we have a choice in the matter, we give up our power. We give up all sense of control and place our lives in the hands of someone else. We lose our motivation, we lose our creativity for solution focused thinking, and we let other people make decisions for us. We lose our desire to be proactive and think of resolution.
Is this case of the pandemic any different? Of course it is. It’d be naive to say that this situation is the same as attending school or renting an apartment. What is similar is the principle that we can apply to the foundation of our circumstances today. We have a choice in this matter. We have a choice whether or not to follow the guidelines set forth. Are there consequences if you don’t follow suit? Sure there are, and in this case, the consequences are lethal.
This is not suggesting that anyone do anything other than listen to doctor’s orders and state restrictions, but rather to help you embrace the feeling of freedom by owning your decision to follow guidelines. When you own your decision to follow guidelines, restrictions, suggestions, etc… you no longer feel imposed upon by someone or something else. You instead realize that you have evaluated the situation and are choosing to protect yourself and others.