Pick your POISON

Life comes at you fast and how prepared you are for it, will determine how successful you'll be at it. Certain things are inevitable; things like rain, tax or your government fucking you over, but what we never prepare our mind for are those situations when we have to make a tough decision.

The idealists lens views life in monochrome because the receptors have trivialised the other colours of the spectrum. We pray for ideal situations and as we say in design, we hope life gives us problems that can be solved through painting by numbers. Have you ever been caught in a situation that the right answer is blatant and all you need to do is PICK? It is what we pray for but alas, reality is a cruel bitch and she never makes it easy.

Most times, life comes at you from different angles and scenarios are nuanced by different elements that complicate decision making and as @penderis would say, everything becomes confuckulated. When you're caught in between the devil and the deep blue sea, and evil is your only choice, how do you decide?

We say life is a gift and you know, I think it is but if anything, it's a Trojan Horse that God gives us and just covers his face to laugh at weaklings called human. It is a cruel joke and you're the main event, the brunt of the joke and the unfortunate audience, all at the same time.

How do you make tough decisions? I mean the really tough ones where the correct answer isn’t blatant and you have to dig through conflicting and congruent lines of argument to arrive at your choice that is still debatable. How do you live with yourself afterward?

The path of least resistance is very popular and is the easiest for the mind to process. It is not always the right choice but sometimes, I wonder what the right choice is. There was a certain guy called Phil with a cocaine addiction developed at an early age. Phil was suicidal and all that mattered was the next line he’d snort. Phil’s path of least resistance was a one way trip on the hearse and he was fine with it.

Then there’s another guy called John who was in pretty much the same situation with Phil, except that he wanted to live. John liked life and ignored the path of least resistance, such a sweet irony. John chose to fight his addiction and embraced the means to cure his addiction.

Then there’s one more hypothetical guy called Frank; Frank also has the “unhealthy addiction” but unlike the other two guys, Frank hasn’t chosen a path yet. Frank is still figuring out life and trying to make sense out of the weird situation he finds himself in. Frank looks at the path of least resistance and loves the road but abhors where it leads to and then he looks at the other path and hates the tough road and fancies the end, despite his reservations and feelings.

Tough decisions will come and I don’t worry much about the wisdom to make the “right choice” because, in those situations, it doesn’t exist. I pray God gives me the mental fortitude to live with my decisions and that even they come back to haunt me in the future, they will be circumstances I can handle.

My mind piers to a story about a man that was trapped in his house at a community under attack by Boko Haram insurgents with his wife and four children. One of his kids was an infant and while in hiding, the baby felt some discomfort and started crying in typical baby fashion. The man had to muzzle his infant and by the time the coast was clear, the baby was no longer breathing.

When you’re stuck between the devil and deep blue, how do you base your judgment? How do you make those tough decisions and after you make them, how do you live with yourself? What is right and what is wrong? Do you want to go quick or slow? Pick your poison.

Thank you for making it this far, please check out some of my older posts;

• I have fears and I have FEARS
• What they never say about climate change
• Life is too short
• Nobody said it was easy but nobody said it would be this hard