This is a week where I used either a choice or a decision to determine a preference in future plans. Some of my ideas are original and others are taken from an article written by Jon Mertz. By using a combination of ideas hopefully it will help you in your decision making and the choices that are necessary for you to make in life.
The first important thing to look at is the definition of each word and then its genesis. In the dictionary the definition for decision is “the act of or need for making up one’s mind.” It’s a more permanent solution existing perpetually without significant change. The meaning for choice is “the right power or opportunity to choose.” It examines an abundance or variety of options from which to choose. The genesis of the two words are intriguing. Decision comes from “cutting off” while choice comes from “to perceive”.
With decisions you set up a process by which you eliminate all the erroneous options and select the best ones possible. You’re not flexible to change once a decision is made. You hold on to that decision no matter what. It is concrete, solid and explicit. For example, a decision that I made in my life was to become a teacher. I did not change my mind in spite of there not being many jobs available after I finished college. For every teaching position there was approximately 400 applications for it. However, while I waited for the Public School position to open up, I got a private school teaching position instructing 6th grade and watching the light bulb turn on in their heads made my wait all worth it. Decisions are made many times through the day, month, and year. It’s the action of making a choice.
With choices you have favorable circumstances to select alternatives which require the faculty of thinking, reasoning, and imagining. Smaller choices may be more intuitively made. Choices are comprised of our values, beliefs, perceptions, desires, and duty. Choices involve our life more as far as what path you select and the direction it takes you. For instance, my choice of going back to college to acquire my Master’s Degree. This choice put me on a different course and into becoming a middle school counselor, which led my life into another pathway of meaning.
I hope you have gained a new perspective on what choices and decisions are. Here are two amazing quotes that recap my blog. Thornton Wilder says, “The more decisions that you are forced to make alone, the more you are aware of your freedom to choose.” Kathleen Halls expresses it like this, “In every single thing you do you are choosing a direction, your life is a product of choice.” You have a choice and a decision to make. What you decide determines your destiny and purpose in this world. Good luck on your choice and your final decision