Choosing Differently

When life pulls you down, you have to choose to get back up.

That sentence can sound simple, even cliché, until you are the one living it. Until the weight of circumstances, transitions, or quiet exhaustion settles in and getting back up feels anything but easy.

Life is full of choices. Some are obvious and visible. Others are subtle and internal. We choose who we want to be each day. We choose how we show up in our relationships, our work, and our inner world. We choose when to push forward and when to let go. We choose when to stay with what is familiar and when to try something new.

These choices are not made once. They are made again and again, often in small moments that don’t look like much from the outside.

Making conscious choices takes effort. It asks us to pause instead of react. To notice patterns instead of running on autopilot. To slow down long enough to ask whether our actions are aligned with our values or simply shaped by habit, fear, or survival.

When we consciously choose alignment, something shifts. We lift ourselves back up. Not because life suddenly becomes easy, but because we begin living with greater integrity and intention. And when that happens, things often feel better, even when circumstances haven’t changed yet.

Life is also full of transitions. Heartbreak. Career changes. Family shifts. Seasons of feeling stuck without knowing exactly why. Those in-between spaces can feel especially uncomfortable because they ask us to move without a clear map.

Again, we choose.

We choose whether to stay isolated or seek support. We choose whether to keep doing what we have always done or to experiment with something different. We choose where we place our attention and who we allow into our inner circle. Sometimes the most important choice we make is choosing ourselves.

From a neuroscience perspective, these choices matter more than we often realize.

Every time we consciously choose a new response instead of defaulting to an old pattern, we are engaging neuroplasticity. Our brains are constantly adapting based on what we practice. When we repeat the same reactions, the same thoughts, and the same behaviors, those neural pathways become well-worn and automatic. They feel familiar, even when they no longer serve us.

When we pause and choose differently, we begin creating new pathways. At first, those choices can feel awkward or uncomfortable. The new path is less familiar. But with repetition, it becomes easier to access. Over time, the old patterns lose their grip, not because we fought them, but because we stopped feeding them.

This is not about forcing positivity or pushing through difficulty. It is about making intentional, values-based choices that support regulation, clarity, and connection. Small choices, made consistently, are what lead to lasting change.

Today, my choices were simple. Time outside in fresh air. Quiet moments with Saint and Star. Journaling to sort through what was swirling in my mind. Time with family. The people I love and who love me most.

Life will always include hard moments. That part doesn’t change. What does change is our capacity to meet those moments with awareness and choice.

When we choose differently, we create the conditions for something new to emerge.

Choose you.