I'm having a forced office day today. Hurricane Helene is on the way, but still churning in the Gulf of Mexico.  Here, thousands of miles away in Lake Lure, we are socked in with some of the worst flooding rains we've ever seen, and this storm is a tiny appetizer compared to the main course coming later tonight. My forced office day is a choice. Could I go out if I wanted or needed to? Of course - but there could be fallout. (Like trees falling on the road or even my car.) Every choice has fallout. In the last couple of weeks, I've had a convergence of events that made me think about our choices - and perceived lack thereof. This week, I had the privilege of attending an event hosted by the National Speaker's Association of Western North Carolina. My daughter Jen was one of the speakers, and her topic was Unbreakable Boundaries. I'll start with the proud Mom moment. She told engaging stories, created audience engagement and shared a powerfully profound message about the cost of letting other people make your choices. Not directly, of course, but because of fear of rejection, the need to be liked, the perceived expectations of other and of course, our people pleasing tendencies. I sat in awe of the message she is carrying into the world. The week before, I facilitated two different team workshops, where one of the first questions I asked was "What are your current realities?" Interestingly, choice ...