I walked in 8 minutes late.
Arriving on time is a program rule.
I knew. I agreed to be on time.
I had set myself up for success — but along the way I realized I had made another choice.
For the forty-minute ride, I left 2 hours ahead, because my plan included a quick stop at Whole Foods to get some healthy food for the day.
I needed 15 minutes of my rhythm of life, amidst the three, intense, back-to-back 13-hour days of the seminar I was attending.
Oddly, my primary navigation app went down.
No worries. Turn on another.
Again, something went awry.
There I was. Lost. Two navigation systems down. No Whole Foods in sight, with another 13-hour day ahead of me … and I still wanted the healthy snacks I wanted.
There was no time to stop anywhere. Zero.
In fact, I was quickly running out of time.
But as I turned the corner, there was a Harvest COOP.
I knew I didn’t have enough time, but I chose to stop any way.
In that moment I thought how fortunate.
I felt completely justified.
But after talking to someone I knew at the seminar, and even though I was convinced that my late arrival was out of my control, it occurred to me that in the moment I chose to stop at Harvest COOP, my choice to arrive on time changed too.
As I learned eight years ago in the very seminar I was reviewing this past weekend, I always get to choose.
I get to choose promptness because I get to choose promptness, or I get to choose tardiness because I get to choose tardiness.
But often reasons, excuses and justifications turn the mighty moment of choice into a watered-down, qualified, victim-laden decision.
Choosing powerfully is the moment we move beyond reasons, excuses, justifications and story and declare with our word the life we want to live and who we want to be.
What do you choose?
If you choose eating healthy foods, you choose eating healthy foods.
If you choose eating pizza, you choose eating pizza.
Neither is wrong. They both are only a choice.
But own your choice and know that with every one you make, you create the life you are living and the results you are producing.
Are you struggling with choosing powerfully for you and your health? We should talk. Email me at carol@carol-egan.com
