Little Choices for Big Results

In my daily practice I see the results of little (seemingly innocent) choices which people make. Years ago, I experienced some of the results of these little choices in a big way.

Tragic choices

One Thursday morning in June, I was heading into the office driving on I-76 from my home in Brighton, Colorado. I noticed a couple of cars by the side of the highway and another car on its top in a field. My thought was “oh my God, this has just happened!” I quickly pulled off the highway and hurried to see if I could be of help. What I witnessed were several bodies scattered in the weeds, mostly very young children. The first individual I came upon was a four-year-old boy still in his pajamas; he was alive, but he was in serious trouble. His father was lying in the grass not far away and he was also alive, but in even worse condition. It appeared as though both had been thrown from the car, and the car rolled over on them and kept rolling.

 A man was holding a newborn he had found in the weeds, and a woman was holding another little baby she had found as well. I then came upon a little girl about two to three years old (still in diapers), and she was just sitting in the deep grass and appeared to be in good shape. I did what I could for her which was mostly just reassuring and comforting her. Her mother was close by in the back seat of the car lying face down on the roof of the overturned vehicle, one of her legs was trapped outside between the ground and the roof of the car. The mother was obviously alive, but she was not at all cognizant, and the debris piled around her made it difficult to evaluate her condition.

Two emergency helicopters arrived on the scene with many police and emergency vehicles from various fire departments. The mother and four-year-old boy were airlifted from the scene. The father was the recipient of heroic efforts by paramedics, but he never left the scene alive. The mother and one of the babies was on life support, and I’m not sure of the outcome for that infant, but the mother did recover. The four-year-old was on life support for several weeks and eventually died.

No one in the car was wearing a seat-belt, and there was only one child restraint, and it was either not being used or improperly being used. Perhaps these parents felt it was too inconvenient to make sure everyone was secured and safe or maybe it just wasn’t cool to wear seat belts. I wonder how inconvenient it was to have the family scattered on the side of the road, and just how cool can you feel then?

The second part of this is that a couple of months later I was in Salem, Massachusetts with my wife (Lynsi). We were getting ready to end our trip and head back to Denver. I had noticed a bit of a sensation in my lungs and shrugged it off as nothing, however on the last day of our trip the sensations became more significant. We were going to be leaving late that evening, and I told my wife I thought I was sick. She still had some shopping to do, and I spent most of the day sleeping in the rental car. The flight home was miserable, and the next day I hadn’t improved.

Lynsi took me to the emergency room. She told them that she thought I had pneumonia and they agreed. I was put on several IVs and some sort of breathing device. The doctors had prepared to keep me in the hospital, but by the end of the day, the doctor indicated that my numbers looked good and that I could go home, which sounded good to me. He also said that I was very lucky. He said that most people who come in like I did never make it. He said if I had been a smoker, diabetic, or overweight, I would have had a coronary, and they wouldn’t have been able to focus on the pneumonia. I had to go back to the ER the next day due to elevated temperature and went through the whole process again, but I left with a feeling of relief and hope.

The point of this is about the little choices we make every day. It’s not hard to imagine how some people might develop the bad habit of not using a seat belt, since they didn’t use a seat belt yesterday and the day before, and nothing happened, so why bother? It’s a little choice, and usually it doesn’t matter until that one day when your car goes out of control, and now that little choice becomes a huge deal.

What little choices do you make that could end up having a big effect on you?

I stopped smoking at a very early age, and I have led a very active, healthy, vegetarian lifestyle. As a result of my little choices, I am writing this today. I work with a lot of people who also made little choices which didn’t work so well for them. What difference does another cigarette make? What difference does it make if I have one more doughnut or chocolate bar? What difference does it make if I don’t want to exercise today? Well, as you can see those little choices could make a huge difference.

To learn more about smoking cessation hypnosis, or to schedule a consultation, feel free to reach out anytime.