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We need more than a choice
Developing a continuum of personal agency
For many years, I’ve had a quiet mantra playing in the back of my head, “You always have a choice.” At a fundamental human level, this mantra is powerful and empowering. It speaks to the role of personal agency in a situation. Let’s consider a few simple examples:
I can stay or I can go.
I can work or I can play.
I can spend or I can save.
In a world where women still face more experiences of violence and discrimination based on sex and gender, it is important at the individual personal level to grab hold of your agency and use it.
However, when we are only able to see issues through the lens of discrete choices, we lose the nuance and substance. We stop trying to think about what might lie between those choices. And what lies between two choices is often where the richest opportunities sit.
This is a concept I’ve thought about for a while. Another of my favorite thoughts is, “Everything is on a continuum.” Our progress in learning each and every new thing is a continuum. Our progress towards rights is a continuum. Our physical and emotional health are on a continuum — or perhaps more than one continuum.
