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Life's journey offers the opportunity for choices to be made along the way. Every human being has been given a gift of free will, which allows all of us to make choices in our personal lives. Choices can be wise or unwise, and we all will live with the rewards or consequences of the choices you have made in life.

As young people grow into adults, there are are many choices to be made. The choice of whether or not to marry; the choice of choosing the right mate; the choice of a career path; and the choice of the best geographical area in which to live all have to made at some point. Some of these choices can be somewhat flexible, and sometimes, choices are made that are later deemed to be unwise decisions, so some different choices have to be made.

When I was a young woman, I had the choice to go to a different state to college. Instead, I chose to go to a college in my home state. At the time, I thought I was making the right choice, but years later, I realize that perhaps going out of state to college would have been a better choice for my life. One conversation that I had with my father had always puzzled me and haunted me until I finally determined what he had been trying to tell me. As we were preparing to go out one day, he told me that when I obtained my college degree, I should make the choice to live either in another city or another state. He further stated that I needed to live my own life and get away from him and my mother. At the time, I was quite puzzled, and told him that when the time came, I would make that choice. As life unfolded through the years, I have often thought of that conversation, and I have wished that I had made different choices when I had the chance to do so.

On that day, many years ago, my father knew something that I didn't understand at the time. He understood that because I am an only child, he and my mother would become overly dependent on me in my adult years, and that living my own life would be difficult. Unfortunately, I didn't get the message that day, and I have often looked back on my own life and wondered how differently it might have turned out if I had made different choices as a young person.

In recent years, I have often reflected on that conversation, and I now understand the message that my dad was trying to convey, and I also have more understanding of how our choices in life often affect everyone around us. Making the choice to drink alcohol and get into the driver's seat of a car is a very unwise choice because we may hurt or kill someone else or ourselves, leaving families to grieve over a tragic loss of a life. If we choose to live unhealthy lifestyles, that can often lead to health problems in the future, and if we're fortunate enough to live well into our golden years, that may result in someone else taking control of our daily lives by trying to make sure our needs are met on a daily basis. This last scenario results in the loss of control over our own lives and the loss of the ability to make our own choices in life.

Make your own choices in life wisely so that as the line in a country song states: "when you have the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance".

Learn more about this author, Belinda Beasley.
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