One message I’d pass to kids today…..”You truly are what you eat and consume.”

I learned my lesson’s by the death of immediate family members. Through personal affairs, such as; health issues, vehicle accident and other mishaps, financial difficulties, marital issues, etc.

If I could truly know then what I do know now, it would be that one has choices, one always has a choice. Choice B may not be better or seem better than Choice A but it is still a choice. A and B might be both just as good or bad it’s having a choice that matters and its knowing that making a choice puts the power and onus in one own court and therefore can or may alter the course of events just enough to make a difference. (Living with drunk mom or drunk dad, going to university and living at home or on campus, etc.)

Now, I teach my life’s lessons to my children and their friends, my grandchildren and their friends. When I grew up, I wasn’t made aware of the fact that I had the right to make my own decisions and choose my own choices. In my era, many of us didn’t make our own decisions or choices, yet we were still held accountable for the path we were put on. It is much easier to claim responsibility and accountability for ones action’s when the choice is of one’s own, this goes for receiving recognition and awards as well. “Go to that school, take that career, buy that house, drive that car…..have this many children, get a pet, I am miserable, out of my element, none of it suits me… too bad, you made your bed, now lye in it…but they weren’t my choices, perhaps not but just shut up and put up.” versus “I choose that school and that career, I took your advise and bought that house, I don’t want pets…etc.” Many children, even with today’s technology and knowledge of the vast amount of possibilities available to them, don’t realize it’s up to them, in the end they have to live with the choices they made, whether by themselves, by peer pressure or parental influence.

I had a emotional/mental nervous breakdown at 26, I seen a psychiatrist; one word changed my life, you have the “choice.”