Tag: choices

The Choices We Face

Sometimes I get incredibly overwhelmed by the amount of choices there are for everything. The internet has created a limitless amount of choices as it provides everything we could ever need or want. With the click of a button, we can do anything from ordering a pizza to buying a trip to Jamaica. We have access to see all of the job opportunities all over the world, and we can see what everyone else is doing with their lives. We have the technology to travel wherever we want, and learn whatever we want. With all of the possibilities, sometimes it’s hard to make a decision as you are constantly thinking whether it’s the right choice or not.

The more I stress out about doing things the right way, the more I become selfish and forget to think of others. I do make sure I’m grateful for what I have, but with what’s going on in the world right now I have re-adjusted my thinking about having too many choices. Some people don’t have a choice. Some people have to take what they are given and work with it. They have to think and act in certain ways in order to stay safe. Unfortunately, living in a small town in Canada, I forget what minorities are going through.

I have been privileged my whole life so I have no idea what it would be like to be treated differently because of the colour of my skin. It wasn’t until now that I realized being silent and ignoring the situation, just because it doesn’t affect me, is not helping the situation. I am learning along with many others on how I can help. I have high hopes about the next generations as we are becoming more and more accepting the more we learn about what it means to be human.

I think that experiencing the pandemic as well as the Black Lives Matter movement has given us all a chance to stop and think about what is going on in the world around us. We have now felt what it is like to have limited choices by staying at home, and having less freedom for where we can go and what we can do. I also never thought in a million years I would be laid off for any reason, so experiencing that has also helped me gain some insight.

This has also been a wake up call for what really matters in this world. Not being able to see friends and family or to go to community events has made me realize how much I cherish being around people. Watching how big of a difference it can make if we all stand together whether it’s to support each other through quarantine, or protesting against human rights, has been inspiring. Realizing how grateful I am for the life that I’ve had and the position I’ve been given, being a Caucasian Canadian, there is no reason for me to stress out about the small stuff.

If it’s too many choices that I’m stressing about, I can now take a step back and realize it doesn’t matter what I do, I will likely be in a better position than someone else, and that’s a humbling thought that I will be grateful for. I look forward to speaking up and sticking together during this whirlwind of a year.

Healthy Eating: The Everyday Decision

We need to eat to survive, but sometimes the choices of food we eat are detrimental to our health. It seems obvious to say we need to make a decision every day for what we eat, but sometimes our own rationale isn’t helpful to us.

This concept of making a choice every single day for what we eat clicked with me when I was making the breakfast above. It’s not an ordinary breakfast that I would make, but I had the time so I went for it. While I was making this, I already was faced with multiple decisions. I could’ve cooked with butter, used white bread, and processed peanut butter. I could’ve sprinkled brown sugar on my apples and cheese on my eggs, but that day, I didn’t do any of that. Each of these choices seem very small and insignificant when you’re talking about one meal, but it can add up if you’re letting it happen for every meal.

Another thing that opened up my eyes was late night eating. This is a choice to make every day, and it’s up to you to decide whether you’re eating out of boredom, if you’re genuinely hungry and if so, which snack you will choose whether it’s healthy or not. It’s incredible how easy our will power can disappear when we try to justify our choices even though deep down inside, we know it’s the wrong choice.

As I started thinking deeply about this, it kind of reminded me of the KonMari method of tidying up. Where Marie Kondo says to keep things in our environment that “spark joy,” why don’t we eat things that spark joy? I know that eating junk food tastes wonderful while you’re eating it, but I’ve started to pay very close attention to how it actually affects me. Most of the time, I very much regret eating junk food. When I look at the picture above, that was something that sparked joy for me. I took the time to cook a meal for myself with several different food groups and even used my home grown fresh herbs. I felt good about all the decisions I made, and strangely enough, this doesn’t happen every meal.

Of course, this is all subjective. Some people could care less about eating healthy and just do what makes them happy in the moment. For myself, I started to imagine what it would feel like if I thought about all the food decisions I made before caving in to eat whatever is convenient. I think this applies to treating myself to junk food sometimes too. For example, if I feel like I’ve been eating really well and it’s a hot summer day, I couldn’t say no to having ice cream with my friends. Perhaps I could choose to get a small cup, or choose to go all in and accept the consequences.

I think this becomes a problem if we justify every junk food choice, because then we go down a slippery slope. “I had an apple this week, so therefore I can order pizza, eat ice cream, drink a bunch of beer and have hot dogs every day.”

With all of the choices we have to make every day in general, making appropriate food choices can seem like the last thing on our list. I can totally see how there are people who suffer from food disorders because there is just so much psychological effort to balancing what you eat, why you are eating it, what your body looks and feels like, and how it can control your emotions.

If we decide to make more choices that make us feel good despite the little devil inside trying to justify why we should choose differently, I think our psychological well-being would be just fine. I find the more I justify “bad” choices, the worse I feel about what I eat. So why don’t I just make healthy choices more often so I feel really good about what’s going in my body?

I’m going to pay more attention to what my thoughts are for the food choices I make and if I truly feel good about choosing them. I’m thinking that this will cause me to make more healthy food choices than if I stay in the habit of not thinking before I eat.

Every time we are hungry, there is a decision to make. If we take a second to think about eating things that truly make us feel good about ourselves, whether it’s healthy or not, I think it will help our psychological well-being in the long run.