Choices

Choices.  An activity we do many times a day.  We choose what time we wake up, get out of bed, whether to go to work, or stay home.  Whether to leave the house, exercise, eat, drink or play.  Do you ever stop and think about all of the choices made in a day?

Every day we will be exposed to both good and bad circumstances.  It is our choice to react negatively or positively to each one.

Take a look at something as simple as wearing a mask.  Some people embrace it.  They understand it helps diminish pathogen transfer.  Others act like toddlers pitching a tantrum after having been told they can’t have a chocolate bar at the grocery store.  Simple choices yet powerful on perspective.

Everyone has known the kind of person people love to hate.  Always in a good mood with something positive to say.  I know one of these types when asked how they were doing, the reply was always, “If I were any better, I’d be twins!”

Positive people are a unique breed.  They tend to have others follow them, enjoy their company, they are inspiring.

How do positive people stay positive amidst all of the turmoils of life?  Their choices.

Every morning when we awaken, we have two choices.  Choose to be in a good mood, or choose to be in a bad mood.  Positive people choose to be in a good mood.  They smile from the inside out.  Do bad things happen?  Of course they do.  When that occurs. They choose to learn as opposed to being a victim of it.  When listening to someone complain—they don’t accept it, but rather point out the positive in it.  They choose the positive side of life.

Always without fail.

Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all of the noise in life, every situation is a choice.  We choose how we will react.  Nothing or no one choose for us.  We choose how people affect our mood.  Choose to love.  Choose to hate.  Choose to judge.  Choose to accept.  We choose how we live our life.

Think about that.  Do you make choices about life, or do you just react to it?

Throughout life I’ve always thought about this.  Am I reacting to life—or making a choice.

Two years ago, I was injured very badly.  The doctor’s faces lent knowledge my condition was not good.  Talking to anyone was impossible as a tube filled my throat.  My head muffled by the medications flowing through my body.  Many medical professionals came and went from my bedside, their faces lent knowledge things were not good.

I was alone with my thoughts.

In this state you think about everything.  Your life to that point.  The highs—the lows.  Those you love, and those you’ve lost.  It was by the hand of another I was there.  That filled my thoughts at times too.  Yet I was alive—barely.

After several days, a nurse came in with a little white board and a dry erase pen.  I’d yet to communicate with anyone other than a quick nod.  She smiled when our eyes locked.  That smile reminded me of my grandmother.   Which lent a warm embrace to my heart.  She asked if I thought I could hold a pen and write.  As I reached for the items she stated, “Now we can have a little chat!”

Having not held anything in some time, the pen felt odd.  The white board dropping to the floor.  I had difficulty with it.  She smiled and said, “I’ll hold it.”  She pushed the button to lift the back of the bed, to sit me up higher.  As she did so, I noticed my nails weren’t polished.  They had removed all polish to see my nail beds.  My hands were always manicured.  It caught me off guard to see my nails bare, hands white as if I hadn’t been in daylight for years.  The small insignificant things in life.  It startled me.  She noticed.

Tell me what you’re thinking, she asked.

I thought for a bit.  Remembering the choices I had in life.  Choose to be happy.  Choose to react.  Choose to think negative.  Choose to think positive.  Many things filling my mind.

As I was thinking, the nurse changed the subject.  “Tell me what you’re allergic to.” She requested.

I wrote the one word that popped into my head.  “Hospitals.”

She looked at the word with bewilderment and a chuckle bubbled up.  Although I couldn’t smile, or laugh—her smile and laughter warmed my heart.

When her laughter relaxed, she quipped, “Tell me what you are thinking.  Let’s have a little chat.”

The pen wobbled between my fingers as I wrote.  “Thank you and everyone for caring for me.” She watched as my hand wrote the words across the white board.  “I have one request though.”

The nurse looked at me with curiosity.  She wiped the board clean, handing it back for me to continue.

I knew I had to change the trajectory to positive—somehow.  There was too much negative surrounding me.  It was dark.  Cold.  Heavy.

I wrote slowly.  “Can you ask everyone to look at me as if I’m going to live, instead of as if they are waiting for me to die?”  Every time someone looked at me, I could read in their eyes how bad off I was.  “Tell them I choose to live.  Walk in here and treat me as if I’m going to live.”

My nurse started to cry, which made my eyes water too.

The nurse sat for some time chatting with me.  Watching me slowly write my thoughts.  Reading every word intently.  We had a very nice chat.  It was the first time since my injury I had actually spoken with another human.  To connect warmed my heart.

Months later, when I was able to speak, that same nurse and I chatted again.  She told me the doctor had requested she take a white board in to have me inform who was my next of kin.  They did not expect me to live.  She informed after we had our chat, that if I could push myself to live.  To be positive within all of the negative, the least they could do is to treat me as if I would live and not under the assumption I would die.  After all, why should they give up on me if I wasn’t giving up on myself.

Every day we have a choice to live fully. What we do with that choice is up to us.

Will you choose to embrace life?  Will you choose the positive?

The choice is yours to make.  Choose wisely.

Stay healthy!