2021 is around the corner and there is one thing, and one thing only that will craft your experience of it.
The sum of your collective choices. That’s it. The end.
Now whether you choose to believe this or not, it is in itself one of the most important choices you get to make. You can, of course, also choose to believe that life just randomly happens to you and that you have little control over how things play out in the year that awaits.
You see, either one of these two choices will be how you start 2021 and it is this choice that will set the scene for your entire experience.
What are the choices?
Well, there are times when things just happen. You cannot control whether Alexander skips a traffic light smashing into your car, whether Tasha invites you to that fancy cocktail party everyone who is anyone is going to, or whether your relationship works out exactly the way you had imagined. Let’s not even go into whether or not your children are going to become exactly who you want them to be (it sucks, I know).
Life has the word “IF” slapped right in the middle for that exact reason – sometimes things just happen, leaving you with the feeling that you have zero control over the events playing out.
The place where your power resides, however, is in how you choose to respond to these life events, and it is this choice that will define your experience. Now this is one type of choice you face in life’s adventure.
The second category of choices are those seemingly insignificant choices you make everyday. Whether you choose to go for that run or not or eat that extra piece of chocolate or not. Do you say yes to those shooters at the 40th birthday party? Do you get into the car after those drinks? Do you say yes when you mean no? Do you study some evenings or do you lounge on the couch devouring Netflix? Do you work those extra hours or are you a nine-to-fiver because they don’t pay you for the extra effort?
Each one of these and the millions of other repeated choices you make over the 365 days that join hands to make up the year, will craft and shape your entire experience of 2021.
Now let’s be honest, very few of us (well I know for fact I) don’t always make the best choices. There are times I look back and know that there were many other choices that would have served my dreams a whole lot better than the ones I made. Don’t beat yourself up for those but rather look them in the eye and learn from them. The ability to look at yourself and decide how will you choose the next time you find yourself in a similar situation is where the power to make the changes that change lives is discovered.
Know that you can make new, empowering life-changing decisions at any point and at any time along your journey.
The obvious outcomes
Go for the run, you get fitter, lose weight and feel good about yourself. Don’t, and you remain unfit, unhealthy and not at all inspired by your “beach body”.
Devour that entire slab of chocolate, same thing, wave goodbye to that body you promised yourself.
Don’t drink those shooters, say no when thats what you mean and avoid the accident that could have serious consequences. Say yes to them even when you mean no, get in the car and possibly spend your life with regrets.
Study for a few extra hours instead of spending all your spare time glued to the TV or consumed by social media, and get that promotion which enables the life you dream of.
Work the extra hours even when no-one sees or acknowledges it, choosing commitment, and then shout out a resounding YES when you get that random call offering you an opportunity you had never dreamed possible, because you know that life meets you at the place, and with the same energy with which you show up on a daily basis.
In the end
You need to allow courage to source your choices and infuse your life. When we are standing in courage, we make powerful choices for ourselves. As reflected in the diagram below, it is at the consciousness level of courage that life begins to expand into all that is possible, opening up opportunities.
Operating from consciousness levels below courage results in life contracting and closing off opportunities and possibilities. Unfortunately 85% of humanity operates below courage. Take a look at the work done by Dr. David Hawkins in this regard and as reflected below. When your choices are rooted in emotions such as pride, anger, desire, fear, grief, shame or guilt, life contracts around you.
Everything changes once your choices are rooted in courage.

Always remember that your future is constantly being written by the choices you make.
You have the powerful freedom to choose what goes on in your mind, to choose what seeds grow in the garden of your mind. You cannot plant weeds and expect roses to grow and in the same way continuously repeating the pattern of making disempowering choices will not stand for your greatness in 2021.
What you choose to focus on becomes your reality. Your entire experience of 2021 will be determined by how you choose to craft and shape your reality by the daily repeated choices you make.
All of life is the sum of your small, consistent choices made over time. No-one goes from the couch to marathon runner in a flash. It requires small, deliberate, consistent choices made over time to change a life.
Think of the wheel of a moving ship. Moving it only one degree a day will not immediately have much effect on the course of the ship; in fact one will not even notice it. However, over time, the small daily changes in direction will end up steering the ship many miles from the original destination.
Where will you start? Can you think of one thing you want to make more courageous choices about as you stand on the brink of a brand new year?
How will you allow your choices to craft your experience of 2021 ?