Choose wisely.....

You are in control of the choices you make.  Doesn't matter about finance, available resources, health status, relationship, age......the one freedom we are given as humans is to make a decision.  Sometimes the ego will accumulate multiple opinions and develop a conclusion that the journey you are on- has no waiver.  True living is: we set our goals / let go of the attachment to the goals / and live in the journey.   Staying too tight and worrying about destination makes you de-focus on the daily events that are placed in front of you to support your journey.  As my teachers at the Chopra Center told me, the beauty of having an intellect of higher function is the revelry in happiness and love (more so than the fact that you can calculate and interpret) A reptile can problem solve how to get away from danger-a human will embrace the event and appreciate the contribution that they just went through to make the universe a better place.
If you seem to be going through rough times, "sh_t happens" and you learn for next time to take a different path.  If the event keeps on happening....perhaps an outside opinion would be helpful to figure out how your life can be dialed-in to support the universe and continue its everlasting existence. Life went on before you were born, as you live and after you die.....if you live your life to not coexist with nature, life will be painful, lonely and end fast.  If you live supporting what is around you with a goal of contributing to the benefit of "life"....you will probably have happiness come to you and your immediate circle.  (see the Chopra Center)

Smoking, overeating, cutting people off, gossiping, fighting ...always leads to something bad.  If we learn early about how our lives are intertwined with the Universe- disease as we know it will be postponed until 90-100 years of age.  (There are currently about 70,000 centenarians in the US)  If we are 50 years old and just never were aware of the "messages" life sends us- you will accumulate alot of damage.  The more damage you carry, the less your options for changing life. Taking off an ill fitting jacket is easy when it's your only layer. If you have a t shirt, a base layer, a mid layer, an outer layer, a water proof layer..... you will have to fix alot of things to get to the underlying problem that needs adjustment.

This is hard to fathom when you are knee deep in bad surrounding/events.  The concept of epigenetics states if you wait on taking the healthy choice, DNA will be the backbone of coat hangers that holds onto all those bad layers of clothing.  If you don't feel the wrath of damage, it will be transferred to your family decades down the line.  Studies on smoking teens have shown gene mutation to the children of the young smokers.   (for those of you who don't subscribe to the preceding concept and make bad choices you probably don't care about your future family....but guess what...you will have to take care of that burden!!)   Ultimately there will always be a choice to make every hour of every day, if you choose a short trail to follow, it will just be a longer hike to get to your pinnacle.