My dad often tells the story of when he was invited to a bountiful seafood buffet in Rhode Island. As a lover of seafood, this was a heavenly experience for him. Yet, he simply couldn't taste it all--there was too much to choose from.
I tend to think of life as a series of metaphors. There's the mountain traverse metaphor for living life, and the buffet metaphor for choosing your lifestyle.
When it comes to the lifestyle buffet, we all have some choices to make. Of course, those buffets look different dependending on where you live, how much money you have, your level of privilege, and more, but no matter the buffet choices available, almost all of us have some choices to make.
The people
We can all choose the people we spend time with. Some of us are true extroverts that fill our lives with all kinds of people and some of us are more introverted choosing intimate groups more often. Whatever your preference, we all get to choose who we spend time with for the most part. For me, when it comes to people, I choose to spend most of my time with family members and a few friends.
The places
We also have some choice over place. We can choose between this place or another. Again some may have a limitless range of choices and others may have a very narrow range, but we do have some choice over place. As for place, I like to be home or in beautiful, natural settings. I typically like to be places that have good light.
Activities
We all have choices about the activities we do. As I think of my family members and friends, they make a variety of choices including illustration, reading, traveling, sports, hiking, gardening, writing, partying, exploring, and more. Most people I know work, and mostly their work involves some jobs that they are passionate about and some jobs that are drudgery. Few have positions that don't involve some good work that's interesting and meaningful to them.
Attitude
We all choose our attitudes. That can take some effort because we are often a product of our environments and our attitudes are greatly shaped by those around us. Because that's true, there's often work to do to revise your attitude to fit your values and circumstances. For example, woman my age often grew up in climates that disparaged and limited women greatly so we have to revise what that mindset and action did to us. Similarly, people who grew up in cultures that narrowly or negatively identified you by your religion, culture, class, or lifestyle, may have to revise the effects that narrow-mindedness and bigotry had on their mindset. No matter whether we are satisfied with the attitudes that were cultivated in us or not, we do have choice over the attitude we bring to life. For me, I hope to bring a positive, truthful, kind, grateful, non-judgemental, and empathetic attitude to life. I've still got some work to do in this regard.
Objects
The objects that we purchase, create, and collect have an impact on who we are. I often say, "less things, more time," because objects require care and attention, and too many objects can be burdensome. That said, there are some objects that I value greatly such as those that make up my creativity studio--I love to create and I can create better with those objects so I value those objects greatly. We all have some choice over the objects we collect, create, and purchase, and that's part of this lifestyle buffet.
What we choose on the lifestyle buffet is who we become and how we live our lives, that's why it's important that we make best possible choices. It's also important to make sure that everyone has a good buffet to choose from.