Are you making a choice or a decision?

Curiosity got the best of me yesterday.  A conversation with a friend sparked this blog topic and I had to write about it.  I’m excited about what I discovered and I hope this helps you like it helped me.

Choice. Decision.

Possibilities or direction?

A choice is making a selection from a variety of options. A decision is reaching a conclusion on an issue.

I looked up the root meaning of these two words online.  I got a lot of “old English...Latin...root....blah blah blah...”  Trust me here...basically the bottom line meaning for each is:

Choose - to taste
Decide - to cut

When we choose, it’s like picking our entrée from a menu. If we come back to the restaurant again, next time we can make another choice. But, a decision, cuts off. It literally kills the other options. By its very definition, a decision is a turning point.

Making many decisions and choices over our lifetime helps to build our character and adds to our experience. They’re all the things that add up on our resume and our successes in life. However, if you’ve ever made a mistake, you know that how we handle decisions and choices deeply affect our lives.

Are you laboring over every choice as a life-changing decision? First, ask yourself WHAT are you investing? Your time, energy, stress? Are you investing this time, energy and stress into a decision or a choice?

Do you avoid clear decisions by treating them like choices? Take a look at the options you’re holding onto and how they’re holding you back.

If you are avoiding making that clear decision – I can pretty much guarantee that the avoidance of making the decision is what is wasting time and focus and is actually causing you MORE stress and distraction. The difference is actually pretty simple when you think about it....

A decision marks a direction and requires action from you.  It takes you “there”– a place, a destination for your life. A decision is giving something up (all those other options) to have something else - implying a commitment.

 A choice marks an option – a possible open door...It’s the dream until we come back around to choose again....maybe this time you’ll make a decision instead and the dream can be your reality.

It's inside of you.  The power to choose OR decide.