Forever is a long time: How to ease decision-making pressure
Some decisions feel overwhelming not because of what you’re choosing, but because of how much pressure you’re putting on the choice.
When you’re deciding about a home, a job, or a major life change, it’s easy for the decision to quietly turn into a referendum on your future. As if you’re supposed to get it exactly right now so you never have to question it again.
We get it…we all hope that we won’t have to make that decision again. But that pressure and that hope makes it harder to actually make a choice.
So here’s the hack- framing ANY decision, even if it feels huge, as a “NOW decision”.
It’s much easier to make a decision labeled a “now decision” than it does if it is a “forever decision”.
You’re choosing based on who you are right now, what you need right now, the information you have right now, and what your life looks like in this season.
It also reminds your brain that you are allowed to re-decide as things evolve.
Say your carefully researched, dream home ends up flooding twice a year. Or your dream job ends up with a misogynistic medical director. Or the perfect school for your kids ends up not being able to accommodate your child’s learning needs.
Changing course isn’t proof you got it wrong. It’s proof you’re paying attention, which is easier when you make now decisions.
As Anne Lamott puts it, “No one makes perfect decisions. They make the best decisions they can with the information they have.”
This is not a path to impulsive decisions. It’s an invitation to stop demanding certainty and permanence that don’t exist.
With now decisions, you can choose with care instead of fear.
And that usually leads to better decisions anyway.
