“sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do.”
an acquaintance said that to me the other day. it brought me up short. most of us have spent quite a long time doing what we might not want to do....jobs, parent care, childcare, endless meetings, holidays with family, looking at challenging relationships, living through losses of varying magnitude, learning lots of difficult lessons.we’ve all had to, over the decades, face fierce teachers and teachings. we’ve all had to, over the decades, sacrifice our desires for something we thought was more important or more valuable. we’ve all had to, over the decades, suffer pain, discomfort, illnesses...none of which we wanted or chose.and now, as elders, we may continue to do things we don’t want to do. now, however, we can make those choices more consciously. with more time to reflect, to look inside for our truth, we can choose to go ahead with what we don’t want to do...or we can say “no”.we can choose to do the things and activities that nourish us, inspire us, and let go of the things and activities that don’t.yes, we might miss out.yes, we might forego an opportunity.yes, we might pass up something unknown.yes, someone’s feelings might be hurt...and we will deal with the consequences.and yes, we can choose to listen to the deep, inner voice that said “no”.
and yes, we can save our energy for that which is exciting, challenging, energising, invigorating, creative, loving, compelling.and, yes, we can make choices that might have seemed impossible without the wisdom and experience we have gained over the decades. we have harvested that wisdom after facing the challenges and we can now act from a place of inner strength.
we can say “yes”.
and we can say “no”.
