Do You Practice Choosing?
I went to a pet food store the other day. There are more dog food types, flavors, and formats than I ever imagined. They have kibble in a bag, all manner of canned food, and many fresh options as well. Does our dog really care? When we bring him to the pet food store, he is much more interested in making contact with the cashiers because he’s learned that’s who can give him a treat!
Every day we are surrounded by opportunities to choose. Sometimes choices are welcome; at other times, they can be overwhelming with the sheer number of options. And many times we are worried about making the wrong choice.
Some choices we face feel more significant or more important than choosing a type of dog food, but are they?
Making a choice is more important than which option you chose.
The act of choosing provides clarity. Every little decision you make adds up. Each choice you make helps empower you to move forward with intention.
Have you ever been around wishy-washy people? They can’t seem to make up their mind, and as a result, are stuck. By not choosing, they don’t have clarity and are not empowered to move forward.
Making choices will get you unstuck.
There appear to be right and wrong choices. The rightness of a decision is just a matter of perspective. What may feel wrong today might end up being the right choice in a few months or years – when looked at from a larger or longer-term perspective.
Getting in the habit of making choices is a good one. Practice making little choices now so that when you make what you consider to be big decisions, you will know how.
Imagine what my dog would think if I wasn’t able to choose a dog food? He might prefer one flavor over another, but any choice is better than coming home empty-handed. So I grabbed a couple of bags of kibble and a few cans for flavor and headed back to the car, feeling pleased that I made a great choice.
When I was young I couldn’t make up my mind because I never knew what “I wanted” because what “I wanted” wasn’t as important so I never learned to check in with myself to find out. I just had, or did, or went, whatever/with everyone else had/did/went. When someone called me on it, as a young adult, I was stumped trying to come up with making my own choice because I didn’t know how to identify feelings of “want’, let alone the degree to which I wanted anything. The next step was having to admit I was allowed to want things.
Now, many grueling years later, when I can’t make a choice (wastes energy) I usually find it is either because:
(1) I can’t stop analyzing my options because I don’t have enough information to feel confident in my choice; or
(2) I am giving the choice too much importance; or
(3) I haven’t stopped to figure out what it is I really want, so how do I know what to choose?
Once I notice I am having difficulty making a choice, I check for these issues so I can stop wasting my own time, fix the problem, and move forward by making a choice.
I wish I had been able to attend the discussion on this last Tuesday night. Maybe next week.