Listing...

...as in making a list. No, I'm not on the side of a downtrodden, wave-beaten vessel attempting to navigate the harshness of Hurricane Sandy, or whatever it's been downgraded to...

I have been questioning something for quite a while now. It's a choice I made, many years ago, and I continued on the pathway that choice initially set me on.

There comes a time when you must ask yourself why you make the choices you do, and why you stick around for something that might in fact be holding you back. Or rather, allow yourself to be held back because, let's face it, the holding back comes from within 99.9% of the time.

Now, I'm a short-term list maker. I'll make a list at the beginning and end of the day with To Do items on it. I typically don't list out past 24 hours. Life can get messy, the list can get mangled, and that can become frustrating. So I make nibble lists. Easy to digest and discard.

I spelled out my original choice at the top of a piece of paper, and then just let flow. I came up with many questions related to the choice and the path, and found many answers that were at first a little tough to swallow, and eventually became enlightening:

1. Why did I originally make this choice? (fears, hopes, goals, insecurities, etc.)
2. What good has come of it?
3. What have the negative results been?
4. What do I gain from veering from the path? (forward motion, peace, perspective)
5. What can change for me if I move forward? (personal, professional, health, spirit)
6. What would I tell someone in my shoes who made this same choice and kept on the path for so long?

You can't change the past, but you can take steps to ensure you don't make the same choice again. Well, there's that small word with ginormous impact - choice. We all have choices to make, whether it's deciding to taste a new food, sleeping in an extra ten minutes, taking the long road home for the view or letting go of a past hurt in order to heal.

So take time to regard the situation and check in with yourself before you make a move that could be detrimental down the line. Know who you are, what you need, what you're willing to give up, and what you're okay with giving in to. And don't forget to make a list.

On a lighter note, I'm aiming for an 8-miler tonight. Tune in tomorrow for a recap of how that little adventure goes. :-)  And I promise the there will be some fun posts coming up - I've got a good concert lined up this week, and some weekend fun as well. Pics and replay coming your way...