Life is so much about the choices we make. Do a search on google about "life choices," and you’ll find most of the results are about career choices or relationship partners. But the choices we make in our lives are not just limited to those big milestones in our lives. We have so many more choices that we are making every day, each of which could influence us as a person for years to come. For example, right now you are making a decision to read this website instead of doing anything else in your life, and it’s just possible this post (or some other) may come to your mind years from now in a conversation or when you're trying to make a decision. Or what if you close your laptop and decide to go out to eat right now, and while you’re crunching away on your salad you meet the love of your life? A small decision with big consequences.
Every little choice you make has at least some impact on your life. Even when you think you’re not making decisions, you're actively making the decision to not make a decision. And that’s why I am writing this post. I wanted to remind you that the big scary choices are important, but so are the small, not-so-scary choices. Day by day, they all come together to lead you as you shape your life.
Here's proof from my own life. Let's have some fun (or not) with a short story about my decision-making process during COVID-19 and see how one small decision led me to where I am today. January 2020, COVID-19 started to spread around the world. (Sorry if just saying that inspires a bad flashback, but rethink those moments with me as I was making my decisions.)
By March 2020, across the U.S., many universities made the decision to close down, and as an international student, I had no idea what I should do. I was lucky enough to have a host family to stay with for spring break, and there was still hope that everything would reopen after one or two weeks, even though at the same time, cases were going up. Many International students were getting plane tickets and heading back home, but others were still holding on to the idea of going back to campus in a few weeks. So... I decided to stay put instead of grabbing a flight. That decision led to months of staying with my host family, right through the end of the semester, which, by the way, was conducted entirely on Zoom. COVID cases were still going up nationwide as summer arrived. I wanted to go home, but at the same time, I was chosen to do a research project with a faculty member. If I went home, I’d probably miss the project, and I might not be able to come back to the U.S. after summer if COVID cases were still going up. After contemplating, I decided to stay in the U.S. I talked to my host family (who didn’t have room for me over the summer) and friends, trying to find a place to stay. This one decision to stay led me to another host family. I learned to fit in with them, to make more changes in my life because of the decision I had made back in March to stay rather than go home.
And that one decision to stay has led to so many things. In the fall, I was able to be back studying on campus while so many other international students were taking classes on Zoom, often in another time zone. (Like, a 1:30 pm class in Virginia is a 1:30 am class at home.) When I was back on campus, seeing my friends in person, having classes in actual classrooms (even with a mask on), I so appreciated the decisions I made and the steps I took to be there. Just one decision to fly home in March would have changed this story completely. Make one decision differently, and right now I might be sitting in front of my computer back home, trying to pretend that Zoom classes don’t feel like podcasts and I wasn't missing all my friends back in Virginia.