Choices

One of the greatest gifts we have is the ability to have choices. What we choose and when we chose them will make a huge impact on your and possibly others lives. I as become older I understand more how the choices I made when I was younger are affecting me now.

I couldn’t wait to get out of high school. I didn’t enjoy being in a classroom all day and couldn’t see the need for it. I had made the choice to go to a technical school and shortly after beginning I quit. I couldn’t handle the class load, didn’t want to be there and I dropped out. I made the choice to leave and go back to my old job. A cashier/stock position which started my path into a career in retail.

I was offered a position with another local business making more money and I still didn’t need to go to school. Ok, sounds good to me, another choice made. Now none of these choices are right or wrong, what you need to remember as you make your choices that even if you don’t see the results of your choice right away, there will be some result it that choice.

My dad was very big on education, but he was also very good on making you make your own choices. It was easy to present my concerns to my dad and talk about the options, the choices, I had. He even offered to pay for my car payment or my auto insurance if I would go back to school. I chose not to take him up on that offer.

I found myself in a situation where I was unhappy with my position and ended up quitting. This choice was made without having a game plan on what to do next. Remember this, when making choices it’s important to know what the choice will accomplish or destroy. Is that choice the best thing to do at the time. This choice while it was good to move on, had me moving on to nowhere. Once again my hero, Dad, offered to let me move back home and get myself back together. I took this offer only because I had depleted my savings while I’d tried to find another job.

Dad made the offer again to pay my car payment or my insurance if I would take some classes, something I still wasn’t willing to do. Living at home gave me a chance to pay off all my bills and instead of saving money I spent it as fast as I was making it. Yep, you guessed it, another choice with a consequence. I eventually moved into my own apartment again and continue with the choice of spending money without thinking about the future.

The future, it will never come. Gotta live in the moment. You also have to live within your means. I somehow stumbled onto a position and worked my way up through the company until I was a store manager. A position I held for 18 ½ years before moving on to the next phase of my life. I began saving some money and becoming more responsible. While I wasn’t thinking much about the future, I was starting to take the right steps. I decided to go back to school and earned an associate degree in business administration. I asked Dad if the car option was still on the table, but no, once he retired the offer was null and void. (I remember a big smile on his face when I told him I was going to get that degree.)

We are making choices every day. The choices we make will affect our future. Had I thought about my future sooner I might be in a happier place. I’m saying I’m not happy with what I have accomplished. My path might have been paved instead of carving my way through a jungle to reach where I am now. I’m reaching the point where I don’t want to work anymore and yet because I didn’t choose to plan for this time early enough I will have to, at least for a little while longer.

Make the choices that are right for you. My mom’s voice still rings in my head. Do you enjoy it? Is it legal? Then what is the problem? I always had the support of my parents in any decision I made. Choices, a wonderful gift with big responsibilities. Choose wisely my friends, choose wisely.