Sometimes having too many choices is terrible. In fact, having to choose is terribly stressful for most people. What if you choose the wrong thing? What if you miss the opportunity of a lifetime?
Probably everyone faces choices that seem to offer divergent courses through life. Maybe you’ve found the perfect house in the perfect town but it would mean you had to find a new job or commute much longer. My mom thought that most places that were good to live weren’t good for working and most places where there were good jobs weren’t nice to live.
Maybe you had to choose between two job offers. Or whether or not to have a child and take time off work. Perhaps you had to decide to stay in or end an important relationship.
Such choices can be particularly stressful. Curiously, when I’ve faced what seemed like major choices, my life never changed drastically. Instead, the big changes have come about slowly and as a result of deliberate, incremental decisions.
Creating a goal, figuring out how to reach it, and making choices each day that will lead to the realization of that goal is the way to change your life.
Right now, I have a few choices to make, and for the first time, I’m not broken out in hives, making lists of pros and cons and generally freaking out. Instead, with the introduction of each new option I’m feeling a sense of wonder and deep gratitude.
Sometimes, decisions are stressful. Other times, it’s nice to have some options.