Are Your Problems Your Choice?

Unpopular Opinion: I have experienced 'clinical mental health' problems and they were inadvertently my choice.

My powerlessness was a choice. My bad behaviour was a choice. My repetition of the same negative coping mechanisms was a choice. My choosing to think what worked for others wouldn't work for me was a choice. My poor diet and lack of exercise was a choice. My avoidance of soul-nourishing activities was a choice. My using of substances to not have to sit with the discomfort of my thoughts was a choice. My going to a job that made me sick with stress was a choice. My relationships with people who I wanted to 'fix' so I didn't have to fix myself was a choice.

I chose to be unempowered because it served me. Unhappy and struggling was my (uncomfortable) comfort zone. I didn't have to expend any effort, it was autopilot living. It allowed me to support my internal narrative and cognitive bias saying 'I am unworthy, I'm not good enough, I can't help it, I struggle with my mental health, I struggle with addictions, I like 'bad boys'.

But I called bullshit, and that too was a choice, and not an easy one to make.

I started to unpick each thread of the narrative, one by one until it unravelled and I became aware that I was the root of all my problems. Ouch.

It takes bravery and humility to take a long hard look at yourself, and work out how all your self-imposed limitations are serving you and make changes.

What are your perceived limitations? I say perceived because we are limitless beings with infinite potential.

In Vedic philosophy, this world is called 'karma loca' which means nothing is determined and you have free will in complete reality. Swami Vivekananda says, 'you can change your destiny by your will and effort.'

Every choice you make determines the life you are living. Of course, you can't change what happens to you, but you can change how you choose to respond and react to it.

If your life is not the life you want, then you may need to ask yourself: How does being unempowered serve me? What does it allow me to do or not do that I would have to change if I embraced full responsibility for my own life and every thought and every action I make.