Today I wrote my final final of my undergrad degree. I can’t deny it any longer- it’s the end of an era. Choices need to be made
Our society teaches us to keep our options open and not to close doors for yourself. Choose in a manner that lets you have the most choices later. My life has long been guided by this which has led me to become the epitome of the cliche “Jack of all trades. Master of none”. This was ultimately because I was being led by fear- fear of making the wrong choice and then being stuck.
For example, when choosing what kind of education degree to go into, I chose Elementary education because I would be able to teach all subjects. I wouldn’t have to pick just two. I felt like it kept my options open and was the safest most sensible choice for myself.
In doing this, I’ve cheated myself. I didn’t have something that was my “thing”. There were “things” that I was passionate about but I never let myself fully pursue. What if I wasn’t really all that good at it? What if I decided I didn’t like it in the end? What if I regretted it for the rest of my life?
I’ve been learning that it’s not necessarily making the right choice that’s important, but rather making a choice. Being dedicated enough to go for it wholeheartedly. Taking that risk.
If you look at the questions I asked myself, who’s the key player? Me. This is where I went wrong.
When making choices, God needs to be a key player in them. It shouldn’t be what should I do, or what do I want? When we ask God to help us make choices we’re in good hands. But even if we make the wrong choice, that’s ok! We’ll get a wild journey out of it! As a quote I read this past week put it, “God is delighted in how committed we are to follow his plan” even if we made a wrong turn somewhere.
We took the risk and went for it! Ya, we might fall and fail, but oh the stories we’ll have! When looking at the most successful people in the world, most have failed before they succeeded. There is great company among “failures”.
The more I begin to make conscious choices, the less scared I am of failure. Again, it’s how we choose to deal with failure that matters. I can choose to get up, dust myself off, and look at how far I’ve come, or I can wallow in self pity and lick my wounds. One view sees failure as productive; the other as weakness. I choose to see it like the first.
I’ve started small, but even in these small choices I’ve been able to experience more joy and peace. God has been honoring my choices and bringing me more opportunities to growth within them.
There is only so much space in my life. I have a choice as to what I’m going to fill my life with.I can’t keep saying yes to everything. Something has to give. It’s not so important that I make the right choice, but rather that I choose.
