thankfulness/0

Choice (Photo credit: anyjazz65)

thankfulness/O

Obvious, Oceans, October, odd, Oil of Olay, old, olfactory, omncisent, omnipotent, owls, openness, opinion, options, orderly, ordinary, organize, outside, overabundance.

Today’s choice was narrowed to “obvious”, “openness” and “organize” and “options”.  This one was hard to narrow down. I like things that are obvious. I don’t like playing guessing games with life. I like concrete answers. I like people that are open. I don’t like people that have an agenda. You never know where you stand with them. I like to organize-things, my schedule, my life. I don’t like chaos. I could write volumes about each of these but I’m going to settle on “options” because “options” is really just another word for “choices.” And I’m a big believer that we all have choices about most things in our life.

Today I’m going to focus on difficult choices probably because I’ve had a number of them to make over the past couple of months. Interestingly enough, the options surrounding our renovation were fairly easy. I had a general idea where I was headed with the house. I wanted to ditch the heavy, wood-grained look and go for something crisper. So painting the furniture was a no-brainer. I had been studying decorating websites and blogs for months and months and when the time came to deciding, it all just kind of fell into place. I am fairly confident in my decorating abilities as it is one of my passions and it’s been my experience that when we’re passionate about something we’re usually good at it.

I have a cousin who is passionate about cooking and she’s a wonderful cook. I’m not passionate about cooking-enough said about my culinary skills.

BUT, when it comes to people our options can become very complicated. Things are just things. People are people; they can hurt and they can be hurt. In this case it’s not just the process of gathering information and then taking that information and maybe methodical choices. Relationships can be damaged forever if we choose the wrong options.

I had an experience where someone who made some wrong choices in our friendship and now I’m in a position where I have some choices to make. This particular friend and I have been very close.  I have been there for her through big issues with her children and her family.  I have invested myself heavily in her life. She is a remarkably talented and intelligent person. For example, she singlehandedly remodeled her kitchen, including the plumbing and electrical. We’ve had a lot of fun together. However, there’s always been a prickly, unpredictable side to her (the general consensus of people who know her well). When she’s good, she’s very good and when she’s bad, she’s horrible. (it’s from a nursery rhyme about a little girl, with a curl in the middle of her forehead).

I don’t know what choices I will make. I don’t like the idea of letting our friendship slide so for now, as it so close to Christmas and the fact that I’ve been dealing with a lot of other issues, I’ve decided to distance myself while I consider where we’re heading. I have been here in the past with her and the situation has usually resolved itself given enough time. But I don’t think I’m willing to continue this pattern.

If you’re in the middle of a situation that needs resolving I hope my post today will help you realize that sometimes there are more options than the obvious but they usually only show up after we’ve let some time lapse. Most things in life can sit on the back burner for awhile. Often they resolve themselves. That’s the wonderful thing about options. You even have choices about your choices! Sometimes, waiting and letting the situation simmer is the best option.