It’s Your Choice

We are surrounded by information. It pours from our phones, computers, TV’s, radio, billboards and those we interact with. Twenty years ago, before Google, before bluetooth and smart phones your access to information was slow. Information was found in books, magazines, and newspapers along with news and TV talk shows. The flow of information was slow, and like J. R. R. Tolkien’s Ent Treebeard said: “And we never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.” The slow nature of information created a solid platform of knowledge. For the most part, people took time to validate facts before publishing in print.

Today you can think a thought and spread it like a virus to thousands of people in multiple countries without it containing one solid fact. How can you make informed decisions when you can’t tell what is real and what is false?

So, the question is, does it matter if the information is proven or fake? No it truly doesn’t matter if the information is founded in reality. Believing the moon is made out of cheese, that Mars is inhabited by little green men, or the Earth is flat isn’t harmful, unless the decisions you make based off of that information create a risk to yourself or others. Believing doesn’t make it wrong, but it could be harmful to act on false information.

Informed choice requires the knowledge of the risks and benefits of the choices you have to make. I call this the Risk/Benefit Ratio. Everything has risks. Those risks are independent to the person making the choice. The same option can have completely different risks and benefits for different people. You are the only person who can decide what risks and benefits are acceptable for you.

Oftentimes our choices are emotional, and centered on our needs in that moment. Those needs can quickly change, and your choices change with them. What others see as odd usually makes perfect sense to the decision maker.

As a nurse I believe it is imperative that I take the time to understand why a patient is making their choices while assessing their knowledge base and assist them in gathering information and facts so they can make the decision that is best for them. I don’t have to agree to support you. Its not my life and I do not live with the consequences.

Each of us deserve to have access to the information we need regarding the risks and benefits of the choices we have to make, while feeling supported in our choices. We deserve access to unbiased, balanced information that help us to make the decisions that are best at that moment, void of coercion or any attempt to sway or gain compliance.

No one has the right to suggest, expect, sway or in any way force you to make a certain decision. The ideal is that you base your decisions on factual information founded in truth, regardless of the popularity of those choices.

It’s your choice and my job is to help you achieve your wants and needs to the best of my ability.