We can sink but the climb is much better

Sartre’s quote of “We Are Our Choices” had me reflecting on the possibilities that it could mean. It could be blunt and interpreted as we are defined by the choices we choose. But what caught my attention was the underlying message of freedom. The notion that nothing has any preordained order and that we are all blank canvases. As overused as that phrase can be, I love the idea that we come into this world without any prior knowledge as to what path or destination we must take. The metaphor that we are an original project that expands throughout time, is liberating to me. I personally am not a believer in the quote, “everything happens for a reason” for it makes me feel as if we are forced to follow a set order. I don’t have a concrete destination meant for me, but rather I have a goal I’m attaining to achieve. As simply as I can state it: I’m living out my journey that will eventually lead me to live out a content life. I’m secure in knowing that whatever may continue to come my way, whether it be more pain and suffering, by the end of it I’ll have what I want. I agree with Sartre that it can be inevitable to have to make choices in life. But the choices themselves don’t define the person we are but the outcome can. It can turn us into a better person than who we were prior or it can fill us with a new inner darkness. We’ll have consequences and there will be results we may fear to confront. But that was your freewill that had you end up where you are. No one and nothing is making the decisions for you. You’re meant to stumble, fall, drown for a while even, but the feeling of getting up and conquering it is worth it. I want to be able to laugh and reminisce about the past bumps of my journey with enough acknowledgment that I’m not shouldering it off. I don’t want to hold up to anyone’s expectations in the future because the biggest disappointment we can feel, is in ourselves. That is why “we are our choices” is quite open to interpretation because you have out of life what you make of it. And you could’ve strayed off and lost your direction, but who other than you needs to keep track? That’s the beauty of it.