I Chose

sara hendren: choosing

In middle age, looking back, it is the subtlest shift that shifts everything: from the late adolescent who says I really must choose the best path to the young adult who says I chose the best path, at least for me to, finally, simply: I chose. I chose and it might have been otherwise. I chose, with some combination of seeking prudence and exercising heedless whimsy and life arriving in its made-available forms. The forms made un-available still stand — somewhere, uncountable. If my choices had been different, everything would have been just…different: a quantum rippling.

everything changes: Choosing

When I talk to my clients about making choices, I am wont to inquire into the reflexive language of making the best or right choice; such adjectives can usually only be applied in hindsight, with all the bias that perspective entails. Better to think about making a choice as a creative act, as an exercise of your agency and will, as a kind of small, brief, bright movement. The outcome of which you will never fully know.

I have nothing to add to the original posts. I found the first through the second, which was waiting for me in my neglected RSS reader. This is the best of this recent resurgence of blogging. So much packed into these two paragraphs.

It’s been a rough week. This sort of thing—away from the storms, thoughtful, deep water—was needed.

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