Making Unpredictable Decisions

As a recovering perfectionist and also as an HSP, I don't like making mistakes. Deciding is a long-winded, arduous process. Like everyone, I have my share of regrets about paths not taken, about all the times when I made decisions that caused my life to contract. 

And so, decision-making feels like a process fraught with challenges. It feels heavy. 

There are so many options that I often spend my frenetic energy trying to make the "best" decision. 

Today, while driving to the library, I heard a conversation that puts this dilemma into perspective. The program that was on talked about whether parents should send their child to a private school that was expensive or whether they should opt for public school. 

The private school might or might not contribute to the child's future. Should the parents try to get the best that money can buy for their child? Should they stretch and go for the private school? Should they consider the cost and opt for the public school?

This is the kind of decision that involves many factors. There are no simple answers. 

How do we make such decisions?

The financial adviser said something that struck me as approaching decision-making from a different psychological space. Don't decide based on what might happen in the future, he said. Decide based on what the situation is right now. Then, you will have the assurance that you made the best decision that you could.

Don't decide based on what might happen in the future.

What an interesting way of approaching this process. As someone who splits hair while making decisions, trying to factor in each and every thing that might happen (which in reality might or might not), this approach seemed so honoring of the present truth to me.

The future is unpredictable. If we try to reach too far into the future, and try to factor in what really is ambiguous right now, we can paralyze ourselves. Accepting that the future is unpredictable and deciding based on our situation now means that we make the best decision that we can right now.

What is the best thing to do based on the situation right now. This idea struck me as so different from what I normally do, and it gives me a different way of deciding. I want to experiment with this.

What do you think? Is this something that makes sense to you?