Making Art is a Choice

I was shopping for a few groceries this week and I saw that two bars of dark chocolate were on sale for $5. Dark chocolate was not exactly on my list for this mission but I know a good deal when I see one so I added them to my basket. Later on it dawned on me that what seemed like such a simple decision represents a whole lot more: The decisions we make decide how we spend our lives.

The grocery store becomes a type of metaphor. Some people buy food with absolute intention: Their shopping list is their bible for the outing. Other people wander through the aisles and buy whatever’s their belly is asking for that day. Some people make sure to buy products that meet certain health standards, while other people fill their cart with foods made with little nutritional value and give quick hits of fat, sugar or salt.

When I was looking at the dark chocolate bars in my home later on, I said to myself, “I guess I eat dark chocolate now?”. Besides, I’m invested two bars deep here. And likewise, if I have a day where I’m clicking through browser tabs aimlessly and reading the news (which often has low information nutrition), I can say that I decided to not have any intention for this day and to pig out on junk food.

They say that you “vote with your wallet”, but when it comes to life I think that you really just vote with your time.

If you can decide in advance that every day is the most important day of your life, you will feel better about your choices. And if it’s a weekend where you have time off, the same decisions will apply. Will you give your body rest or do you feel like you deserve to harm it?

You just might look back on your life and realize that everything that happened was a choice.

For more insight into the way that everything in life is a choice, I recommend reading Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl where he describes how it was possible to find happiness even in the worst possible circumstances of the 20th Century.