This is our life. It is completely up to US how we want to live it. While we all say we believe this, do we all actually practice this in our lives? From what I have seen, I’d say the answer is NO. Always do I see people give in to the pressures of what is expected of them, and come out the other end saying “They didn’t give me a choice”, or “I had no choice.” Always I see people unwilling to make the hard decision, so they pretend that they never had one, and justify it to themselves (and others) with “I did what I was supposed to do.”Let us not disillusion ourselves into thinking that we don’t have a choice when the path we actually want to take is high risk, and the safe path is what is expected of us.
Examples:
A high school senor has a passion for film and media, but unfortunately the family business is in restaurant management. He is in line to take over the family business, so he’s pretty much locked into that. ……………..
WRONG. He has a choice. His family won’t like it, but it’s not THEIR life, now is it. It was their mistake for counting on a person with his own free will, to follow THEIR plan.
A rising star on the set of one of her model shoots is asked to do something “unsavory” by (and to) her manager. In the interest of keeping and advancing her career she complies. She does this under the blanket of “I had no choice”, so she can live with herself having made that decision.
WRONG. The option to not comply was always there. The fact that it may have cost her career doesn’t make it any less of an option. Tough decisions always have high risk. Had she chosen not to comply, she would have kept her dignity, and saved herself mental scarring.
Saying to ourselves “I had no choice” allows us the comfort of diverting responsibility to others or circumstance. The price we pay for this comfort is allowing “circumstance” to map out our lives for us. We end up living the default life our present path has put us on. When we do this, all chance for happiness and/or greatness is lost; just another sheep in the heard.
We always have a choice.
The fact that one path has high risk doesn’t make it any less of an option. If we do not take that path, we have to live with that choice we made. No way around it.
Risk is a part of life. If we are BIG risk takers, we could become rich, wealthy, or just really happy. OR, we could become poor, homeless, even dead. That’s what risk IS.
But if we take NO risks, we are guaranteed to become nothing. Nobody. And miserable on top of that.