“True Life is lived when tiny choices are made. Tiny choices mean tiny changes. But it is only with infinitesimal change, changes so small no one even realizes you’re making them, that you have any hope for transformation” ~ Leo Tolstoy ”

My life totally changed when I realized everything I did, everything I said, or every way I acted was a choice. When I stopped saying, “I have to go to work,” and acknowledged that “I choose to go to work, because I choose eating over not eating, I choose getting paid over not getting paid, I choose being employed over not being employed,” life really did change.

Even if you don’t feel like you have any power, acknowledging that everything you do is a CHOICE, is totally empowering. Why? Because YOU can change your choices. You CAN be in charge of your life. It won’t be easy. But it will be YOUR choice. I choose to live in a van, but I’ve also decided I want an apartment for those times I DON’T want to live in a van. So, I chose to work rather than play because I choose to make enough money to get that apartment. It’s MY CHOICE.

Life is all about trade-offs. You CAN backpack across Europe and live in a tent, or couch surf with friends and strangers, or you can go to school, work a summer job, lay on the beach or live in your parent’s basement while you try to decide if you want to join the military or get a job at McDonalds to pay for your video game addiction. But it’s YOUR choice. When you realize that, you will change your life. Why? Because choices have POWER. They also have consequences. But when you make a conscious choice you pick your consequence. It isn’t seemingly thrust upon you.

When you start making conscious choices, you start considering conscious consequences. It’s easy to believe life just ”happens“ to you when you believe: “I have to go to work, I have to do this, I have to do that and life sucks, but there’s nothing I can do about it…if I didn’t have this stupid job I wouldn’t HAVE to do this, or do that….blah blah blah.“

But when you GET IT about choices, you start thinking, ”I choose to work for the next six months so I can save up for a trip to Europe, or a new car, or an apartment. I realize I won’t be able to hang out, sleep in and buy whatever I want for the next six months, but that’s okay because the pay off is, that new car, apartment, trip.“ You LOSE the resentment, the anger, the frustration because you’re truly in control of both actions AND consequences now. Not only will this awareness help you create new habits, but it will also help you lower your stress levels, resist temptation, stick to a plan, quiet that inner rebellious teenager and beat addictions.

It will take time to adjust to the new way of thinking and acting. You won’t get it all at once. Like a muscle, you build up the strength and control with lots of practice. Then, when you’re ready to conquer an addiction - be it alcohol, drugs, sugar, food, sex or work - you’ll be able to CHOOSE alternatives to the temptation. You’ll choose to stop, choose to get help, choose to deal with your emotions, your life.

Choices. They’re beautiful things.