When You Can’t Make One More Decision

With endless decisions to be made every day, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with decision fatigue. Here are 3 simple tips to help.

It should have been so simple.

All I needed was to figure out what to eat for breakfast. I stood in my kitchen, one hand holding the fridge open and the other on the pantry door. I stared at the contents of both, eyes scanning back and forth, hoping something would magically stand out with arrows and neon signs.

It wasn’t that there wasn’t food, I simply couldn’t decide what to eat.

It wasn’t even nine in the morning and I felt like I had already made too many decisions. I simply couldn’t figure out one more thing.

Have you been there?

Maybe not in front of the fridge, but deciding on something for your kids or standing in front of your closet. Maybe it’s been a work decision or what book to read.

The size of the decision doesn’t matter. It’s the cumulative weight of the quantity that wears us down.

When you’re feeling overwhelmed by making one more decision, try these simple tips:

Stop, Breathe & Move

I say this in my head like the stop-drop-and-roll of my elementary school years. (I’ve never actually needed that, by the way, but it’s ingrained deep.)

When decisions are overwhelming, the first thing I try to do is stop the decision making process. Just stop.

Next, breathe. Deep, slow breaths that go all the way to the bottom of your belly work wonders for stress levels.

Follow that up with moving, and I’m not talking exercise (although that is a great option.) Simply move your body to a different location. For my example above, that meant I needed to stop staring at the fridge. I had to leave the kitchen and come back in a bit when I wasn’t spiraling in indecision.

Smile

Yes, it can seem a bit cheesy and forced. But sometimes I need to boss my feelings around. Purposely smiling (even when I don’t feel like it) begins shifting my feelings to happier places.

Pray and Do Something

Taking just a moment for a breath prayer — a simple “HELP ME, GOD” with a deep inhale followed by a long, quiet exhale reminds me I’m not making the decision on my own.

Follow that simple breath prayer up with action. Just do something. Choose yogurt, pick the shirt, set the date for the meeting, pick the daycare. Your decision doesn’t have to be permanent. It just needs to be a decision.

You can always change a decision, but indecision gets you nowhere.

We’re facing a lot of unknown, hard things in the world right now. And they all seem to require some sort of decision on our part. Try these tips to help you feel less overwhelmed and more free to move forward.

If you need some help facing these things, check out this free journal you can download today!