Life Blog: Decisions

This we make each day. In all facets of life we will always make choices. There are simple ones, but a lot of times it’s complicated. You may find it easy to make decision sometimes, but the intricacy lies in putting it to work.

As you get up in the morning you are already tested to make simple decisions, such as what to have for breakfast or what to wear for the day (unless you’ve already planned these ahead, in which you still dealt with decision-making task). Even if you’ve listed all grocery items to get (well, most of us list ‘em just to help manage the budget apart from making sure we don’t forget buyin replacement for that heavily squeezed toothpaste, hehe), more often than not, we’re still caught in a tight spot on what to throw in our cart. Or perhaps you’re wedged in a dilemma on which gift to buy for your special friend’s birthday. These are just plain and simple day-to-day decisions we do. But what if it’s a life changing decision? Ahh.. spare me some time to think things over please! :)

It’s tough, it’s disconcerting, it’s bloodcurdling, it’s tiring (esp. if you’ve spent several sleepless nights thinking haphazardly about the best choice to make), and it’s as if you want to pull someone and hurl it over to that person so you can break free your mind from it. Decisions like opting to work abroad away from your family and friends, or resigning from work, or settling down, or filing a divorce can be very stressful. These are examples of life-changing decisions. And these requires careful thought, your family & friends’ advices, and Divine intervention. A sound decision entails facts as well, that’s why listing the problem and all your options down really help a lot. In court, the Judge, Attorneys and the Jurors conduct several sessions until the person being tried is proven guilty (or not), then the verdict is carried out.

What makes it difficult, I suppose, is that most of us are afraid of what will be the consequences if in case the end-result is the opposite of what we’re expecting. We normally call this “bad decisions”. We are prone to making bad decisions if we decide too quickly -- doing it without carefully spending some time assessing the situation (or probably when we’re under emotional stress). Some blame themselves for making an awful choice while others just tries to live on with the choice they made and noting that they don’t plummet on the same trap if they stumble upon similar circumstances. On the other hand, it’s easy to say if you’ve made the right decision because you’ll definitely find yourself giggling with satisfaction and utterly proud about the outcome. Putting our decisions to work requires faith, which we seriously doubt oftentimes as we are filled with “what ifs”. I believe our decision-making principle somewhat defines our maturity. Yes we make wrong choices but we can learn from them. And if the choice we’ve made turns out to be okay, we gain extra self-confidence. =)

Why am I writing about this? Because my job contract will end soon, and I have been asking myself how should I decide. Yes this is one of the life-changing decisions for me because I need to consider my family and depend my future plans on it. Although I know my priorities and I have identified the problem (the stress factors at work which almost led me to resign a few weeks back), my options aren’t clear still. Also, I’m still contemplating on what I might be leaving behind and what lies ahead. It’s challenging and at the same time nerve-racking.

Truly, it’s easy to give counsel to a friend asking help in coming out with good decision, but when you’re the one in the situation of making a life-changing choice, I would definitely say it’s tough and troublesome! Do you agree?

c”,)