I'm Choosing My Adventure



Photo by Disneyspeak.com



    

A few days ago, I read a post by Dan about choosing your own adventure. The concept is new to me having been brought up in a foreign country. To my surprise, I chose the happy ending path. Every time a decision had to be made of what's going to happen next, I chose the positive action and ultimately got my happily ever after. I'm usually a pessimist, not by choice mind you, I just became jaded. That was confirmed when I started reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. I wasn't even aware of how negative my way of thinking had become. I haven't finished the book yet but since then, I made a conscious effort of changing my way of thinking. 98% of me was surprised to have chosen the happy path but 2% always knew I believed in fairy tales even though that has faded through the years. My theory of fairy tales will be for another day.

So today, I caught myself being tempted to take the negative path of life. I have been under the weather for a few days now due to cold and allergies so I'm feeling really unmotivated. My situation however is not allowing any of that. I have one more class to go until I finish my program then the real work begins with job hunting, which I'm kind of dreading. I attended a career search strategy seminar last week. I'm excited to get started but there is a lot of work involved. I need my good health back real soon. So, this morning, I started telling myself that I should just skip all the work I plan on doing today because I'm sick. Then out of nowhere, I asked myself which path I should take next as if my life is a story I read in Dan's post. Should I take the easy but unproductive way or should I choose to push on and do what I can because eventually I will get my happy ending? When I put it that way, it changed my attitude altogether. It didn't seem like such a stretch anymore to sit in front of my computer and start chippin' away at my project.

This might come naturally to others but I'm still getting to know myself and constantly learning. I was brought up in a very protective environment. My mom made all the decisions for me and did everything for me. It worked fine until I had to stand on my own two feet. It was a rude awakening. I don't blame her. She did the best she could and took really good care of me. I just have to make sure and remember to let my children learn to choose their own adventures with me as a guide but not the director.

From  now on, I will ask that question when I'm at the crossroads of life, "Which path are you going to choose?" How about you, what techniques do you use to keep yourself in track?