IT’S ALL ABOUT CHOICES

The choices we make define our ‘Life’. Is there anything called ‘right’ choice or ‘wrong’ choice? Well! I believe the right or wrong is always decided on situations but the impact of those choices will be there on our lives.

Suppose there is a person who holds a PG degree, whose passion is Bharatanatyam and who is from a middle class dignified family. His parents are getting old who need to be taken care of and he receives an offer in US with a salary of a million bucks per annum. Now he has to make a choice whether to take the offer or not. What will he do? Which choice of his is right?

The answer is simple. Each one of us is brought up with certain values and we are moulded by the situations we face in our lives. We develop some core values which define our choices and thereby deciding our way of life. These core values act in every situation as the foundation and we build our choices based on it.

For instance, this is how a person might make choices based on different core values

Family: If the person’s core value is family, then his first priority will be his parents. So he makes a choice whether to take the offer or not keeping his parents as the ultimate priority. He may decide not to take the offer and stay back to look after his parents or he may decide to take them along with him.

Money/Career: For a money-oriented person, the offer itself is a great news and he celebrates this event the most. He immediately takes the offer first and then think about other things later. So in this case, he may not give first priority to other things in life because his core value is earning money.

Passion: In this case, his passion is dance. So to make a lifetime choice on whether to leave for US or to follow his passion, he will choose his passion. He will choose to make a great life out of his passion and then prioritize the other things.

There can still be different possible scenarios based on one’s core values like society, fame, purpose etc. One’s decision is said to be right or wrong based on one’s core value. For a person who values his family the most, may feel it a wrong choice to accept the US offer. But for a person who is career oriented, may find it right to take the offer. In general, if the individual core values meet with that of a group of people (or Society), then it is called a good choice; if not, then it’s a bad choice. Again it’s our choice whether to also care about the society. It’s as simple as that.

“They say life is from B to D...from ‘Birthday’ to ‘Death’. But what’s between B & D? It’s a C- ‘Choice’”

So now, if you feel that you lead a satisfactory life, then your core values are strong and clear. But if you have more regrets than happiness in your life, then maybe you have to recheck your core values and try to analyze if this is what you want in your life. Because core values lead to better choices and thereby a better life.