Life and choices go hand in hand, every month, every day, every minute. The two nouns have become so closely related that they can even be put together to make up what some people might describe to be their worst nightmare: life choices. The word life may simply be four letters, but this seemingly puny word means to have importance, to be acknowledged, to be in existence. As indicated by the term “life choices,” we make choices about our lives, and our lives are affected by our choices. The decisions can’t be easy: right?

Ethical dilemmas are handed out daily, often going unseen because they are either ignored by the recipient or the public. Oftentimes after accidents or traumatic events, people look back wishing that they could have had done more: or, in other words, they wish that they would have done more, that the decision had concluded itself differently in their minds.

Indecisiveness has stemmed from our ancestors for many centuries, from trying to empathize and understand another’s point of view to the constantly growing wealth of information that is available to us, it seems like our minds are pulled in every which way. Tugged, dragged, heaved and swayed by more factors than one can count, at the end of the day we stand directionless, tired, and unsure. Sometimes we have no idea what to do, and other times we know that something must be done, but we have not yet figured out what exactly that something is.

Decisions, for some, are like three headed dragons, always popping out from around corners and through the lips of teachers, classmates and friends. Disguised as friendly questions, they are ready to leap for the jugular in a split second as the mind hurriedly searches for the correct answer, distracted.

However, most answers that are asked don’t have a real answer. Disregarding subjects that are often taught in school, like math, there are some answers that blatantly don’t matter. On the other hand, there are also questions that have obvious answers. Should I buy these male uggs? Can I find that at Target? Should I finish this bacon? Knowing the answer is hardly the battle: it is recognizing it, and deciding to make the change. Most of the time people already have their answer. Most of the time the choice is when to go along with it, not what to choose.

Life is not about the choices, it is about the way that we handle what is often already chosen. Have you ever realized that happy people aren’t always accompanied by the happiest lives? Whatever, I just need to see more people smiling. Yes, it’s the middle of winter, but no, that does not mean that the scowl you wear on your way to class deflects against the cold.