I woke up from one of those dreams that are almost nightmares with this sense that I needed to write about it. I will share the weird details with you, but here is the interpretation I got out of it.
We all make poor choices. A Poor Choice by itself may not be bad especially if there are no consequences. But poor choices over and over again can lead us to dark places in our lives. The consequences of continuous poor choices could result in divorce, loss of a home or possessions, loss of friendships and family, loss of purity, loss of our own identity.
Those dark seasons of life are usually very stressful and could lead to anxiety attacks, heart disease, diabetes, rapid aging, and a variety of health problems. Sometimes these health problems wake us up to the fact that we are making poor choices… sometimes we never wake up until it is too late.
1. We are in a hurry.
Has this ever happened to you? You are in a hurry rushing to get something done and you intentionally or inadvertently make a bad decision. It can be a purchase you can’t afford or a job done poorly so you made a mistake.
2. We are busy.
Let’s face it at some level we are all busy. But when we let busyness take over our lives and our family’s lives we may end up making poor choices.
A perfect example is when we let busyness of our careers take priority over our immediate family, our own health, or even our relationship with God. I have to admit I lived like that for a decade. I lost friendships, had an extremely stressed marriage, poor health, and the list goes on. Busy isn’t bad as long as we keep our priorities in order, set boundaries in our lives, and give ourselves grace and downtime too.
3. We are hungry.
Sounds silly but allowing ourselves to get really hungry or even “starving” as they say can lead us to making poor food choices. The continuous pattern of drive-thrus for meals and eating whatever is available will lead you to a poor season of obesity and disease. If you are parent making these same decisions for what your kids eat, you will end up with more sickness than you want.
4. We want to follow the popular or successful people.
When we are in school we want to be like the popular kids, so we may act, do or even follow them into situations we shouldn’t be in. In adult life we may have this same tendency with following others who are successful. But when you are assessing a person of success you need to make sure they have success in all areas of the life you want to live.
They may have achieved a 6 figure a year or a month income, but ask yourself how is their marriage? How many hours a week are they working? Are they raising great kids? Are they stressed out and overworked? Sadly we have seen first hand what happens when you let your career become an idol in your life or anything else for that matter. So don’t be fooled by success or popularity.
5. We are following our spouse’s decisions.
Now I know I am hitting a touchy subject here but stick with me. We can lose our identity when we make our spouse an idol in our lives. We may even enable our spouse to make poor choices and live unGodly.
6. We don’t want to be alone.
This can apply to many things. We may be hanging out with friends or family members that are making poor choices and we follow the crowd. We may allow someone to treat us poorly because we don’t want them to leave us.
7. We don’t realize we are lost.
In Alcoholics Anonymous, your first step to sobriety is recognizing that you are an alcoholic. If you are in a dark season due to poor choices, you may not even realize it. We have had periods of our lives where we were fooled into thinking they were great times. But after getting out of those “great times” we recognize how bad they really were.
8. We are scared to do something new.
This is a big one. We can stay in our poor choices because the better healthier choices are so foreign and new to us that we stay in FEAR. Don’t let FEAR control your life. Break out and do something new.
9. We think because everybody else is doing it then we are okay.
My husband said last night as we passed a cop and he was speeding… “Everyone else is speeding.” A simple analogy but the fact is you can still suffer consequences when you do what you know is wrong.
If you are in Christ, remember you are set apart, a light on a hill the salt of the earth. Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants- what is good, pleasing, and perfect. Romans 12:2 God’s Word Translation.
I hope the interpretation of my nightmare dream can help you. I know it was a WAKE UP CALL for me. I will be praying for your breakthrough from Poor Choices into more Peace and Joy in your lives.
Mary Starr Carter
the Total Wellness Doc and Mom