Life is full of choices.

Life is full of choices. You chose to wake up. You chose to be happy to greet the day. You decide to hate the world today. Either way you chose your behavior.

As a teenager- sometimes we don't often understand that our behavior impacts more than ourselves. We don't understand why our parents get so pissed when we get banned from Wal-Mart for steeling a Cosmo (not me. My brother. He was 15 & wanted to look at the pictures of mostly naked women...no joke). We don't understand why our parents ground us for talking back to our teacher (again. not me.) It's a phase that most of us grow out of as we mature and become adults. As teenagers- we are so caught up in survival of the teenage fittest that we are unable to see the bigger picture.

The bigger picture is that your behavior affects more than just you. As teenagers, you are a reflection of your parents. Teachers and other parents look at your parents and judge their parenting skills based on your actions.  Not all parents of kids who act out are terrible parents- my parents did all they could. My brother wasn't a bad kid at all....he was just rough around the edges. He still is. I wasn't a bad kid, but I certainly had my moments...none that I can readily recall of course. And my little sister- while it took her awhile to find her way, she's finding it.

Then we mature and our parents send us on our way and release us into the wild adulthood. Or more accurately- society does since we are legally adults at 18.  But maturity- isn't something that coincides with being a legal adult.  Two words- Lindsay Lohan. Actress, popstar turned loser.  She has enough money to call a cab, call a driver, etc. yet she continues to get behind the wheel while intoxicated and high. Imagine how her parents feel? I say to you- its not all your fault. Lindsay is an adult and she makes adult decisions- its time for her to face adult consequences.

Okay Bee, where are you going with this?!  I'm saying that we don't have to be a rich, jaded pop-star to make bad decisions. All of us have the power of making decisions in our lives. We are adults and have to think about how our choices might impact other people.  There is a difference between reacting to an issue and being proactive to an issue.  Reacting is simply that. You react with no regard to what could happen to you, or anyone involved. Being proactive involves mature thinking- weighing the pros & cons and looking into the future for potential outcomes. When people's feelings are involved- being reactive usually results in the most hurt feelings, ruined friendships, and often social and/or professional suicide.

Life is full of choices. Not every choice is easy. Not every choice is one you get to make. Sometimes others make the choice for you based on their own actions. They blame everyone around them and spend years & even their entire lives running from the consequences of their actions....one day. they'll grow up and realize it's not all about them. One day.

I made a choice this month. I made a choice to be true to myself and not worry about my employers finding out about my blog & Twitter.  I will continue to be judicious in my topics & steer clear of rants about passengers & crews.  I chose to talk about the issues we face as flight attendants in a positive way. Most days I come home from work & vent for 20minutes about my trip with the boyfriend- but I've been given a challenge (since I tell him I love my job) to cut that to 10 minutes and use the other 10 to talk about the amazing things that happen.

If I can't find 10 minutes of amazing things that happen to me at my job I have a choice: 1) Find a different job or 2) find a different perspective.