Choices

Eighteen years ago, one moment changed my life. I answered the phone at two am. and heard the words, “We’re worried about Arielle.” I thought my daughter was dying. It was the scariest moment of my life! Arielle is doing very well now; at the time, she was ten years old and had been in a car accident in Orlando. I was in Mexico. One choice to travel abroad without my children changed all of our lives. I learned to never take a moment of life for granted, and I also learned the importance of my choices.

Those two lessons have been with me daily through this pandemic.

When I leave my house, I evaluate where I’m going and the risk.

I know how quickly everything can change when you least expect it. I’ve lived it. That’s why I don’t feel a need to tempt fate, as they say. Knowing there’s a virus out there that if I’m lucky enough to live through could still end up having lasting effects on my health—I’m going to do all I can not to catch it. I love my life and want to stay healthy enough to continue loving life.

Shining a light on the importance of my choices this past year has made me realize how much this lesson carries into every aspect of my life. For every choice, there is a consequence. If I choose not to exercise my dogs, I choose to listen to them bark incessantly. If I choose to follow a workout schedule, I choose to feel stronger and healthier.

From the moment I wake up, I’m making choices. What I do today creates my tomorrow.

I know that after I’m vaccinated when things slowly go back to a resemblance of what they were, I will still hold this lesson close. For it is in choosing to create the life I want that I become fully who I am.

Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Unsplash