Cheese Puffs and Other Choices

Have you ever gone grocery shopping while you were hungry?

You know how it goes—you begin tossing every “delicious seeming thing” willy-nilly into your cart.

Your radar is off.

Your mind is certainly not making the clearest, most rational choices. Then the next day, you peek into the fridge and cupboards, wondering what you were thinking.

It happens.

But, the wild thing is that this little “phenomena” happens in larger situations, beyond the grocery store.

In fact, there are many times in life, where clouded by some perceived internal need—such as a desire to be loved, a need to be heard, or a longing for more money–you make a choice, or many choices.

At the time, the choices seem perfectly rational. They seem like good, or even great ideas. “This person is perfect for me.” “I just said what I felt.” “Sure the job requires longer hours…”

Then the cloud lifts and you are left with the effects of your choices—a poor fitting partner, an offended friend, a job that you hate.

And then, in an effort to rationalize the initial decisions, you continue to perpetuate the idea that your choices were solid, rather than just admit that you made them in a haze, and then change your mind, and move forward.

What would happen in your life, if you decided to own up to your lack of clarity, in that original moment?

What if instead of defending it to yourself and others, you could just say, “you know, I was just really hungry and the chocolate coated cheese puffs *seemed* like a good idea.”