Choosing

To be proactive isn’t to choose against something that I don’t want.  It’s to choose for something that could be.  When I choose, it’s important for me to keep a few things in mind—

  • Choose the thing that will serve others the most, in a place that I can do it.
  • Try not to make comfort, money or material things a factor in my choice.
  • Whatever I choose, I need to remember that most likely, it won’t come ready made, like the life I have now.  I’ll have to create it, maybe from scratch.
  • Just because the thing I’m choosing is impractical isn’t a reason not to go for it.  Dreams are by nature lacking in substance, especially in the beginning.
  • Choose just because.  Using reasons to justify why I’m choosing for or against something isn’t very powerful.  Those reasons may disappear, and then maybe I’ll be tempted to abandon my commitment.
  • If I’m afraid of something or hating something, whether it’s a place or a job or a person, choosing against that thing or person, as a reaction to it, will often just allow me to recreate it someplace or in something or someone else.  I need to make peace before I move on.
  • The thing I choose often won’t make me happier or freer than I am right now.  The new choice may provide temporary elation or a sense of freedom.  Ultimately, some version of my past self will coalesce around the new choice.  I get what I am in life, not what I want.

© 2022 by Michael C. Just

Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.

You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23

Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002

Four of his short stories have recently been published online:

Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)

The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW

I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October

Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within