Is every decision a major decision? Why do we struggle with things as if they are life or death? Should I? Or shouldn’t I?

I don’t know about you, but I find that I struggle with making decisions. Especially when they seem like big decisions. Should I take this job or not? Should I buy a new car? Should I spend the money on a vacation? Should I move to a part of the country I’ve never lived in before?

I even struggle with little decisions. My favorite shoes are worn out. But should I spend the money on new shoes? If so, what shoes do I want? What color? What brand?

Is it because we have so many choices that we have so much angst about deciding?

Are we suffering from FOMO? That’s a new acronym that I recently came across. It means Fear Of Missing Out. If we choose A, are we going to regret not choosing B?

Everyone tells me that having a choice is good. And generally, I would agree. But not if there are so many choices that it paralyzes us with fear of making the wrong choice.

For instance, I’m old enough to remember the local grocery store. Walk through a grocery store today and it is the same size as a major department store of 30 years ago. When there was a cooler that had milk. Just milk. Not whole milk, 2% milk, 1% milk, skim milk, almond milk, etc. What used to be a small cooler with just milk has become an entire aisle in the grocery store. You can’t just ask someone to pick up milk without an extended explanation. And that goes for most other items.

Several years ago, I realized I had other choices besides the massive grocery stores. I have the choice to get my meat from a farm market that raises their own cattle and has agreements with other local farms to acquire pork, chicken, turkeys, and a few other specialty meats. I have the choice to purchase all my produce, milk, eggs and honey at a local farm market where there may be fewer choices, but they are healthier choices. And making those choices is supporting local farmers instead of big industrial faceless farms. And guess what else I found out? The people at the local farm stores are friendly and thankful that I support them.

But big decisions. They are still challenging. I still second guess myself all the time. It causes me stress until the decision has been made. Perhaps it’s a control issue? Most likely a fear of not having control of the outcome of the decision. Feeling as if my life direction could change drastically with any single decision. Ahhh, there it is. Fear of change.

Does all the stress of decision making come down to a fear of change?

I’d love to hear your comments about making decisions and how you handle the stress.