Hesitation is not My Name
There is no magic “right choice.”
After every choice I make
I am still alive, Steve Harvey style.
I will use that choice to go on living.
If I wear the “wrong” kind of shoes today,
and someone decides I’m snobby,
I can use that assumption to fuel kindness.
If a Facebook post leads
to lost friends, it also leaves
an opening for new ones.
If eating ice cream causes me to gain a few pounds,
I can lay aside my body judgments
and become an advocate for self love.
And I can shatter my new name
– Freedom –
into tiny sparkles;
fling them over my shoulders
on my way down.
The Story
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve written poems to encourage myself or make myself feel better. As I got older, the use of poetry expanded to giving myself advice or trying to help myself see things in a new way so I could change a negative or nerve-wracking mindset.
The day I wrote this poem, I had been thinking a lot about all of the anxiety surrounding how people will react to or interact with me on a daily basis. I was realizing I spend an inordinate amount of time and brain power on worrying about how each little thing will affect even tiny aspects of my future.
A tiny act – sharing a post I believe in on social media, for example – can really snowball into an hours-long “what if?” fest. I was starting to get on my own nerves! I wanted to reframe the way I think about “what if” into something more positive. So, the first line I wrote down was “There is no magic ‘right choice.’”
The poem just took off after that, as all kinds of examples flashed through my mind. I thought of how even when we make the “wrong choices,” life still goes on. But what is the actual quality of that life if we spend it constantly second-guessing ourselves? Hence the line, “…I will use that choice to go on living,” aka being present in the moment and living fully.
“Wrong choices” will not kill me! I might as well embrace the potential mess and enjoy the ride.
So, I used the “what if” game my mind loves to play to do a soft reset on my thought processes. After each “what if” I described I asked myself, what would be the positive outcomes even if the “worst” happened? It’s all about converting negative thoughts to positive ones, and by default you are also converting your energy (negative to positive).
By the poem’s end, I already felt lighter just thinking about how much this converted outlook was going to help me, so I put in a flying image. The sparkles represent spreading my new awareness to others who struggle with anxious thoughts and endless second-guessed scenarios that no matter what choices we make, we are going to be just fine.
So did it work?
Yes, as a matter of fact! I now re-read that poem on an almost daily basis and it re-frames my outlook on the day. The assurance that there are no “wrong choices” allows me to proceed with confidence.
Have you ever written a poem to help you change your mindset on something? I’d love to hear how it went in your comments below!
