The Ability to Choose

One of the most over-stated and over-used ability in this world is our ability to choose what is best - for us, for our near and dear ones, for our careers, for our society, for the environment and for the ecosystem. It is also one of the most abused ability that we have.

We often forget to think about the choices that we make, unconsciously. Most of the times, we pick what is convenient over what is the right thing to do.

A common example of this that we come across in our professional lives is when we pick and choose our tasks that benefit us but not the team or support the project overall. Our questions around picking up a task depend on whether or not it will work in the direction of impressing a superior, or building a rapport in the team for a promotion at year-end review.

Even for the most disciplined personnel - It is a known fact that a lot of army generals usually choose to sit up on problems hoping that if they let them be like that for long enough, they will go away.

This thought replicates even in our personal life when it comes to our mental health. We choose to ignore or overshadow issues surrounding our mental health long enough for them to develop into something serious. Even then, we would whine away or make excuses to not work on them, hoping that they would go away.

It is our ability to choose that makes our species as powerful as we are on this planet. It is our duty, as a responsible adult, to make the right choices, and not the easy choices. If you remember the scene from Matrix:

Agent Smith - Why, Mr. Andersen, why, why, do you persist?

Neo: Because I choose to!