The World is My Oyster
“The trick is to realize that you’re always doing what you want to do… always. Nobody’s making you do anything. Once you get that, you see that you’re free and that life is really just a series of choices. Nothing happens to you. You choose.” from “The Answer Man”
The first time I heard these words, it really blew my mind. I had to pause the movie just to write it down. (I don’t remember much else about the movie – I think it was alright. But man, oh man, this quote stuck with me). I choose. Me. Whatever I want. So often, we’re conditioned to think that we have to live or be a certain way. I have to go to college and get a degree. I have to get a steady job. I have to get married and make babies. We feel these expectations; from our parents, our colleagues, or maybe even just ourselves. Society tells us how we SHOULD live our lives, and we listen.
I used to buy in to all of that. It’s almost like I was sleepwalking through my own life; living in a reactive state where I was trying to be the person I was supposed to. I mean, if I get the degree, get the job, and make the babies, then I will be happy/content/fulfilling my responsibilities as a human being, right? Um, not so much.
It’s so empowering to know, really know deep down in my core, that I get to choose. There are no right or wrong answers. While my actions will most definitely have consequences, I am never “trapped”. In a job. In a relationship. In my life. Over and over, each moment of every day, I get to choose how I want to live. Who I want to be.
written by alyssa arunyan
