If You Choose Not To Decide, You Still Have Made a Choice
Why you should try anything once, then try it again.
I remember the first time my sons tried calamari. They were about 8 years old, we were sitting in a restaurant and I had ordered it for myself. One of them (I don’t remember which one) asked, “What’s calamari?” I told them I’d tell them, but they had to try it first.
First, some backstory…
I grew up in a mixed ethnicity household in a very diverse city. My father’s family is Filipino. We had Guatemalan neighbors and a Chinese/Russian family across the street. We had every variety of Asian restaurant within walking distance as well as Italian, Russian, and Greek. In short, we ate a variety of foods every day, both at home and out.
While there were foods I didn’t like, I was never scared of trying new things, and this is how I wanted to raise my children. So when my boys were very young, I taught them that it’s ok to not like certain foods, but in order to make that decision, they had to try it at least twice.
Why twice? Well, think about it… the first time you try a new food, often your face is screwed up in a grimace and you hold your breath. You can’t really taste something that way. So once you realize it won’t hurt you, you take a second bite and really get the flavors and textures. At that point if you don’t like it, fine. You don’t have to eat it. That’s your choice.
Back to the calamari.
Now, the boys’ dad wasn’t an adventurous eater, at all. Meat and potatoes, southern cooking. So when opportunities like this came up, he knew to be quiet and let me do my thing.
I gave each son a calamari ring, I figured the tentacles might be a bit much to start. (Granted these were fried, so that took some of the weirdness out of it… anything fried was probably going to be ok in their eyes.) They took them, tasted them and agreed… “It’s chewy, but good. So what is it?”
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I told them, and almost feared they’d balk at that point and decide it was gross. When I told them it was squid, they both immediately exclaimed, “Cool! We ate squid!”
It’s their choice whether to ever eat it again or not.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill
I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose Freewill
-RUSH
So what’s the point of this story?
My motto in life has always been, try it once. If you like it, keep doing it. If you don’t like it, stop. Simple. There’s no fear in trying. But you get to make the choice whether to try it, keep going with it, or stop.
Choosing a career doesn’t commit you to it for the rest of your life (no matter how much education you invested in).
Choosing the chicken instead of the fish is not the end of the world. If you don’t like it, next time choose the fish.
Trying a new hobby can be exciting, until it’s not. When it’s not fun anymore, change hobbies.
Do you often freeze when it’s time to make a choice? You can’t decide, and end up either making no choice at all and staying stagnant or letting others choose for us. Neither one is following your heart.
Letting someone else choose for you, is making the choice to accept what you’re given. And not making a choice, is choosing to remain stagnant where you are.
Human Design is about understanding how you make the best choices for YOU! When you use your strategy and authority, decisions come more easily and life opens up to you, revealing the opportunities you may have overlooked. Life simply flows. Get your free Human Design chart today and start living your authentic life!