Life Is A Smorgasbord

Your life is a smorgasbord.

I often host functions, and need to make the decision on whether to have a meal served at the table, or   a buffet.

Having the meal served at the table is usually for a more formal event with speeches, but this limits the guest to two options - most typically the guest is asked "Would you prefer beef or chicken?"

Sure, the guest can choose their preference, but then of course you often have the situation where a guest will be at the restroom and miss the wait staff, and return to a red meat dish when they would have preferred chicken. Or vice versa.

Then consider those with other dietary needs - for example, I am vegetarian. I cannot think of one vegetable I do not like, but I don't eat parmesan cheese (there's a whole other story). On the night of the event, I may be more in the mood for rice and salad than a creamy vegetable pasta dish.

Then there is the issue of portion size. Some at the function will complain they did not receive enough food, while others say they were satisfied.

This is why we need more choices.

My solution to this is to host a buffet meal wherever possible.

Which all led me to thinking how our life is like a smorgasbord.

We have a variety of options to choose from for our life - where to live, what to do to earn money, how to raise our children, and who we want to spend our precious time with.

Too often we see how people (sometimes ourselves), are choosing to stay in situations or be with people they simply do not feel good around.

After many years of self-development training and my own soul-searching, I now like to simplify life.

If you are unhappy in a situation or with certain people, simply choose another option.

(Just like the time you tried eating snails - you didn't like the taste, so you didn't eat it again.)

Before you cry, "But I can't just leave!" (my job/my partner/my friend/my relative), you can.

This is your choice.

Back to the food analogy, would you keep going back to a restaurant where you received bad service?

I wouldn't. I don't. But I have, however stayed in romantic relationships and friendships, where I didn't receive good service, or I felt were simply not good for me (or the other person).

Now I see that I have a choice. I can stay or I can go. I now choose good relationships and good service.

In your life, just like the buffet, you can choose your favourite ingredients and the amount you need to feel satisfied.

You can taste test, try new flavours, and alter the portion size until you get it just right.

Think of your life as a smorgasbord of unlimited choices.

Don't feel you have to accept what you may have once chosen or felt you were dished out.

Our tastes change, our preferences change, and others change.

Your life is your choice.

I love the saying that your life is not a dress rehearsal. This is it.

If you need help with how to go about changing an undesirable situation, please write to me at donna@donnahanks.com

Lots of love from Donna