Not Choosing is Still Choosing

I'm home for the holidays at my parents (in fact, now stuck due to the #southwest airlines mess) and of course, there's no better time to catch up on my favorite shows like #1883 #emilyinparis and #fireflylane.

#dejavu hit me like a train last night as I was watching the latest episodes of #emilyinparis and I wanted to share an insight that I hope will fuel your #2023 professional mindset.

Last Christmas 2021, I was watching #emilyinparis and remember sitting there thinking, "Wow, I really wish I could simply get paid for being my own brand and have clients in Paris like Emily and run my own marketing and comms shop. I wish I could get paid for being...ME." You know these people. They seem to ooze success just by being themselves.

It wasn't about the dreamy setting or the fact that I love Paris or even that there was a show about a girl who does marketing and branding, also named Emily. It was inspiring at that time because of one simple thing: CREATIVE FLOW. Emily's character was free to be herself. To vocalize her ideas. She was percolating creative ideas into action because those are not only what fueled her passion and profession, but even her own personal life.

Fast forward a year. I'm watching the latest episode, and Emily is sitting in French class, and the lesson is an existential concept from Sartre: "not choosing is still choosing.”

I realized in that moment that somehow my 2021 self-fulfilling prophesy had come true a year later: I HAD chosen, I WAS running my own business (albeit, not in Paris ;)) and I AM creatively flowing! Wow. Weird.

The rest of the episode follows this metaphor from Sartre. We are always choosing. When we don't choose something, we are actually choosing something else. When we choose something pro-actively with a resounding yes, we are saying No to dozens of other things. My entire 2022 could be summed up in this: courageous choice.

• Choosing to leave corporate America
• Choosing to start my own agency
• Choosing to believe my business could be successful
• Choosing to get my real estate license
• Choosing to not play the Coulda/Woulda/Shoulda game
• Choosing to believe that when I am in that CREATIVE FLOW, and being me, and doing what I love, the money will follow. And it has.

Sometimes in our careers and relationships, we start to sub-consciously float, drift, wander, or just...exist. Not because we are necessarily doing something wrong, but perhaps because we are afraid to look ourselves in the mirror, and be radically honest, authentic and audacious with ourselves, own up to our failures/faults, what is and what is not working for us, and be brave enough to branch out - even if it's ridiculously scary and we face the risk of failure. But what is failure and what is our career except learning? We are free to keep practicing being the best that we can be - for ourselves, for those we serve, for society.

So, if you are feeling stuck/bored/scared/frozen in some way in your life, at work or otherwise, here is my encouragement to you from Sartre as you head into 2023: “not choosing is still choosing.”

We think that if we don't say yes (or no) to something, that we aren't choosing, or that something is still sitting in no man's "maybe land". It feels safe. But it is actually more dangerous. Maybe that thought makes you slightly uncomfortable. In a way, it should.

I was resisting starting my own business for at least 3 months this year. When I finally let my heart and my mind give it my all, that's when my business financially did the best here in the last quarter of the CY. I believed, but I also held a lot of unbelief in my mind still. And to be honest, I still do. But I knew if I didn't give it my all, I would regret it.

So here are we. A few days away from 2023. And Choice is powerful. It should invigorate us to be EXCITED about what we ARE choosing for 2023! Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. This should set us free to be intentional, focused, and whole-hearted in all of our dreams. And it should remind us that we are never too old, or too far down a particular road, to #recalibrate and #keepdreaming. Courageous Choice leads to Cultivation, which leads to Conceptualizing & Creativity, which leads to Culmination.

Wherever you are, wherever you choose to be, BE ALL THERE in 2023. And if your business needs brand and business development support, I'm there for you. Let's chat. So thankful for you all. Cheers to 2023. info@emilyjjansen.com