The Gift/Curse of Conscious Choice

My coach sent me the email forward, “Carrot, Egg and Coffee Beans.” You may have read it. If not, I posted it below for your reading pleasure, as it’s a good one. Mary Sullivan is the author.

It’s about how we consciously choose to let adversity affect us.

As working parents, we’re faced with adversity on a daily basis. Someone’s hurt or someone’s sick, yet you have to get to work. Someone needs to be taken to this practice but the car is in the shop. You have an important meeting, yet you’ve had 4 hours of sleep and can’t find your skirt. The kids need school clothes and supplies yet your big client asked for a two month extension on his invoice…

We are left to consciously choose how to handle the situation as well as how we will let it affect us. The gift is that we get a choice. We have free will. As long as we’re willing to accept the consequences of our choices, we can (as our kids accuse us “grown ups” of) “do anything we want!”

The curse is that we have to make a choice. Often the choice with the best consequence isn’t the easiest one to choose. We have to disappoint in the moment in order to create a better big picture in the future. We have to covet our work hours to build a better business. We have to discipline the kids when it would take less energy to just let it go. And sometimes, we have to put our life's passions on the back burner to get food on the table.

These are tough times. You might be stressed to a boiling point. But if we can all brew the coffee while the water's hot and see the blessing in that scalding kettle, your smile comes back as you sip.

What choice will lift you up? Choose it.