Once in a while we come across a quote that really makes us think. For me, this was a quote from the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. “Life is the C between B and D“. What does that mean? Simply put, the B is when you are Born, and the D is when you Die. That leaves C, and C is what is going to make up your life. It is what will determine if you are successful or not, healthy or not, the quality of your relationships, essentially your whole life. The C is Choices. I know what a lot of people are going to say at this point. There are a lot of things that happen to us in life that are out of our control. Agreed. However, since they are out of your control, let’s not focus on those things, since, like you said, they are out of our control. Instead, let’s focus on the things that are within our control. To do this, we need to look at our choices. Specifically, we need to look at the only 4 choices that we really have in life.
The most common estimate for how many decisions we make each day is 35,000. That breaks down into over 1400 decisions per house, which seems like an insane number. Remember, Life is the C between B and D. However, in the end, most decisions that will impact your life fall into one of the following categories of choices.
Choice #1
The first type of choice is choosing to start doing something. This could be anything. It could be something positive, such as exercising, eating healthier, reading more, spending more quality time with loved ones, or starting a new hobby. This could also be something negative. Maybe you choose to start drinking or smoking, eating junk, watching more TV, cheating, lying, or any other negative behavior. Those were two very different sets of choices, but they all fell under the same category, choosing to start doing something.
Choice #2
The second choice is to stop doing something. In a positive situation, this may mean that you stop drinking, smoking, binge watching your favorite show, eating unhealthy foods, drinking soda, etc. On the flip side, this could mean that you stop positive behaviors, such as working out, eating healthy, going to work, studying, socializing with family and friends, etc. Again, both sets of these choices fall into the same category. Both sets are the C between B and D. The difference is how they will impact your life.
Choice #3
Maybe you are not going to start a new behavior. Maybe you are just going to increase the frequency. This is choice 3, doing more of something. What is something positive that you could do more of? Drinking water, exercising, stretching, eating fruits and vegetables. What are some negative behaviors that you may choose to do more of? Sitting on the couch, gambling, drinking, drugs, eating junk food. Again, different choices that will have very different impacts on your life, but all are the same choice, choosing to do more of something that you are already doing.
Choice #4
The final choice is to do less of something that you are already doing. Maybe you are currently eating a snack every night before bed. What if you cut down to every other night. You are still snacking, but you are choosing to do it less. What if you currently watch TV for 2 hours at night and you cut that down to 1 hour. That would free up an hour for you to start doing something new, something more productive. Maybe you use this choice for bad, choosing to eat less fruits and vegetables, workout less, stretch less, or socialize less.
It seems like such a simple concept, but Jean Paul Sartre put it so well. “Life is the C between B and D”. So, what are your Cs going to be? I am going to put myself out there and give you some of mine.
Choice #1 – What will I start doing? Just this week I made the decision to start taking cold showers. After researching and learning about the incredible health benefits, I am now taking cold showers in the morning. That may seem like a silly choice to make, but I am making it for the health benefits. Do I like it, no. However, I want to be healthy. I am tired of my knees and back hurting, and since cold showers reduce inflammation, I am committing to them.
Choice #2 – What will I stop doing? I am going to stop checking my phone when I first wake up in the morning. It is a bad habit that in no way benefits me, so I am going to stop doing it.
Choice #3 – What will I do more? I am going to have more conversations with my wife. We do not talk enough, mostly because I am not a big talker. However, talking about real stuff is important, and I am sure it would benefit my marriage, so I am committing to it.
Choice #4 – What will I do less? There are few answers that I could give here, but I think the biggest one I need to focus on is yelling less. I find myself having a short fuse at home, and I yell more often than I should. To be honest, this is one that should completely stop, and at some point I hope to. For now, I need to focus on doing it less.
What are your Cs between B and D? Write them down! Take 15 minutes to really think about what choices you can make to drastically change your life, and then write them down! Look at them! Commit to them! Who knows, maybe your life will take a turn for the better.
