Do you always have to be right?

Dilemma?

Black or white? Right or wrong? The world that I grew up in did not leave room for many choices, reinforcing “right” and punishing “wrong”. I always opted for the “right” way.

Getting ready for my 50th high school reunion at Marian High School in Omaha, NE. Marian operated as a small Catholic all-girls school of about 400 at the time. Our graduating class of 88 touted being on the cutting edge as the “baby boomers”.

The nuns were strict, priding themselves on an advanced education coupled with well-behaved teenage girls!

Documented in our “Marian Handbook”, the expectation not only appeared in print, but this motto echoed down the halls: “A Marian girl is in the right place, doing the right thing, at the right time.”

Of course I sought to be a perfect “Marian girl” so I adopted the working motto of always having to be “right”…I should do this, I should be there, I should, I should, I should….you get the idea.

Although this high standard of perfection kept us “in line”, with few behavioral problems, it left me always playing that tape in my mind of doing it the “right way” for the rest of my life! A far cry from Frank Sinatra’s song, “I Did It My Way”!

Years later, I’ve come to understand that there is more than one right way, more than one right answer, and more than one right anything!

I’ve also come to realize that in some ways life comes to you, gently leading you where you should be. I shouldn’t be so caught up the right path for my life but focus on my reactions and attitudes to life’s stepping-stones.

Maybe I’m not where I thought I would be at my age. Perhaps the accomplishments that I had set for myself did not materialize. Maybe my life took a different zig when I thought it should zag!

Much of our choice in life comes from our attitude of dealing with the forces of life that come our way and not so much with controlling the details.

Relax where you are. Bloom where you are planted. And by all means live in every step on your journey with a grateful heart, knowing that you are Divinely guided, guarded, and gifted.

You are in the right place, doing the right, thing, at the right time. You’d make the perfect “Marian Girl”!

After all, it’s not right or wrong, black or white, but maybe 50 shades of grey!

Am I the only one caught up in this dilemma? Let me know what works for you.