Often, when people say “the freedom to choose” they are talking about abortion. This post is about a completely different topic entirely. Here are the freedoms to choose I was happy about over the weekend.
Choose a nap
As often happens when spending the day with my grandchildren, I was tired, so I chose to take a nap
That might seem like a very minor choice in the scheme of life. For me, though, there were years on end when I did not have the freedom to make that choice. My husband was ill and then he died. I needed to take on extra consulting contracts to pay the medical bills, funeral bills, tuition, grocery bill, mortgage and more. I couldn’t choose to take a nap when I was tired.
As the saying goes, “I don’t quit when I’m tired. I quit when I’m done.” That sounds nice for an athlete. It sounds good for an entrepreneur who is trying to out-hustle the competition. Still, I’m grateful to have the freedom to choose to rest when I am tired. And I think I have a few tools that enable me to continue to succeed as an entrepreneur beyond going without sleep.
Choose a sick day
My daughter was sick with the flu over the weekend. She chose to take a sick day and stay in bed. Maybe she was too sick to appreciate having this choice, but, as someone who has known how miserable it is to have to go into work when I’m really sick, I appreciated it for her. I know what it’s like to drag myself out of bed and go into work because I needed the money and did not get paid unless I was working. This is true for some minimum wage jobs, but it’s also true if you’re self-employed.
Choose what to buy at the grocery store
My grandchildren all know about my “secret” candy stash. There is a drawer in my office where I keep candy because:
I was in the grocery store with my seven-year-old granddaughter, held up two boxes of candy and asked her which one she thought I should get to replenish my candy stash. She suggested I get both. I agreed and tossed both boxes into the cart.
“When you don’t know what to choose, sometimes it’s nice to choose both.” – Eloise
As someone who once had to search for change around my apartment to find money to buy a doughnut, being able to “choose both” makes me smile.
It’s not just poor people who have fewer choices
Because you are reading this blog, I assume you’re smart. Because you’re smart, you realize most of those choices I have now because I have a better job and more money than when I was young. There are other choices, too, that make me happy.
I have arthritis and sometimes it is so bad that I cannot get out of bed for a week because my knee is swollen up the size of a coconut. Other days, I can’t type because my hand or elbow is hurting. I’ve had two joint replacements and I do use voice-to-text apps sometimes.
Lately, I’ve been doing well and have been able not only to choose to hop out of bed and work in my office in the morning, but even to teach judo some days and spend five hours walking around Kew Royal Botanic Gardens on others.
Unhappy people confuse me
I don’t mean if you are working in a sweatshop 90 hours a week and sleeping in a room the size of a walk-in closet. That probably sucks. I don’t know any people like that, though. I know a lot of people who are constantly ranting about how bad their life is, the country is going to hell in a hand basket, etc. and they are saying it sitting on the couch, inside their four-bedroom air conditioned home while drinking a nice Chardonnay.
Maybe they just don’t have any standard of comparison to know how good their choices are?
