Choosing Right

The human existence has been infinitely defined by making decisions. We are consistently making one decision or another that may define our lives in the long term or short term. Many of us find it quite simple in making decisions and it's become a modern advantage to having a successful career, life or family.

The question of choice is so mulitifaceted that we sometimes focus on the visible and the short term orientation of our choices. Bear in mind that choices we make whether directly or indirectly should have intrinsic benefits attached to it. In order to make the right choice, the questions we need to ask ourselves are "is this choice the right one?" "Would this choice make me happy?" "is this choice value oriented?" "Who's going to be hurt by the choices that I make?" "Are my choices against natural justice or the law?" "Does this make me a better person?" "Are my proud of this decision I'm making?" e.t.c

When we take our time to think about the choices we make or are about to make, these afore listed guiding principles should suffice. The most important thing about decision making is that we're able to go to sleep at night knowing that we've done all that can be humanly done in the situation. Our choices shouldn't harm us but bring the best out of us.

The question of choice may sometimes be ambiguous however let's look at Melanie for example, Melanie a young and beautiful 24 year old girl meets up a guy and they begin to date, soon after their first couple of dates, Melanie realizes that her new boyfriend is becoming moderately controlling and exhibits unfounded jealousy. He makes comments such as "if you ever leave me, I'll kill myself or if you ever leave me you'll regret it". The red flags are up but Melanie is blinded by passion even when deep down she knows that something isn't right. Melanie has a choice of staying in this seemingly toxic relationship or walking away. Melanie stays on believing she's having the time of her life and doesn't confide in anyone about the questionable innuendos she's getting from her new boyfriend. The bottom line is that Melanie's boyfriend eventually becomes abusive and causes extreme emotional and physical harm to Melanie that now she is beyond recognition. Did Melanie have a choice? Did she have to wait until the relationship got ugly before she realized that it wasn't right for her? Well, it didn't have to get ugly, all she had to do was choose right. The same example can be applied to the sort of company (friends) we keep, the sort of marriage we create, the sort of jobs we take and the lifestyle we keep. We may not be able to control everything but the one power we have is to decide what we want from what we have. Choice defines it all. The ultimate question will be if we're choosing right.

In making decisions, we should remind ourself that the most important element of choice is choosing right and hoping that our choices make us better, stronger, wiser, more loving, happeier e.t.c, it should accentuate the Good in our life. In the end, everything else would fall in place.

Live your best life!