During this holiday season we all recall that after all the holiday indulgences what comes next: NYR or New Years Resolutions. Well NYR really is just a fancy title on a shorter word: Choices. It's about making the choices that impact our lives and others' everyday. Below is a brief exert from Tavares Williams, a young adult who reminces about how his choices affect his life and his relationship with God.

A teacher of mine once told me that there are three things in life that every person on earth can’t avoid. The first is to be born, the second is to die and last but not least is inevitable, to make choices.

“if you think you will fail, then you’ll fail”

She continued to tell us that “if you think you will fail, then you’ll fail”. There was no extra encouragement or words of wisdom, that was just it. At first I thought she was a nut bag but as the years went on I couldn’t agree with her more, now that I’m a bit older. Who, or what rather determines what we’ll make of ourselves based on the  decisions we make? I personally believe that 99.9% of the time we only have ourselves to blame for something not going the right way. There’s nothing in this world that you can’t do, when you believe in yourself and the decisions that affect your daily living.

 I was so filled with rage just by being around my surroundings and I thought life wasn’t fair.

Now one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made was taking the opportunity to be shipped away to a boarding high school at 14. I was so filled with rage just by being around my surroundings and I thought life wasn’t fair.

I needed to figure out who the hell I was.

I needed an attitude adjustment, anger management, God, a friend and I needed to figure out who the hell I was. I thought was headed for years of misery and I knew I didn’t want to feel that way.

So when the opportunity presented itself I jumped at the chance to get out of, what I thought at that time, a modern day hell on earth. I knew it would be great for me to get away only because I would be experiencing a new environment with new people.

" Little did she know God was the last thing on my mind..."

It was a clean slate for me and no one, other than myself, predetermined what would come out of it. Now since it was a Christian school I don’t think too many people were saddened that I was going away, especially my mom. Little did she know God was the last thing on my mind at that point in time. While I struggled in the beginning, things really turned around once I got settled and started to figure out who I was. I also can’t tell you what kind of person I’d be or where I’d be in life right now if I hadn’t made the choice to get out of, what was to me, a stressful situation.

" while it took me a bit longer than I expected, I found solidarity in my faith."

I had to make the adjustments that I knew were considered necessary in order for me to better myself. In doing so I learned to control my temper, find my creative talents, formed some incredible and unbreakable relationships and while it took me a bit longer than I expected, I found solidarity in my faith. 

So it was only natural that I started to feel better about myself. There would be time I’d walk down the hallways and just be in my own goofy world, which I could tell people slightly envied. Making a decision to leave home so early and learn some life lessons without anyone telling me what would happen made me stronger. I created my own foundation of reliability for myself. And while I tried and failed and made a multitude of mistakes, I was able to brush it off and lift myself back up and work harder for what I needed. 

Of course my situation may not seem as serious or as intense as other choices individuals have had to make throughout the course of their lives this far.

Fact of the matter is, God gave me the option to make my own choices while being with me every step of the way...