Decisions, Decisions!

My mother used to say 'regrets and indecision' were ghosts that haunted her. In my life, decision making has been a challenge for me but I do not want to have ghosts that 'haunt' me, so I have had to grow through my 'fear' of decision making and learn some techniques about making decisions.

I have learned that decision making is an acquired skill. It can be acquired at any age. Once I realized that I was entitled to think for myself and to act on my own ideas I could decide easier. The squeeze has come when I have had to accomodate my husband and family in my decision making process! 'Servanthood' often made me set my choices aside in the best interest of my family.

Decisions sometimes lead to mistakes, but if I saw the mistakes as a step in learning how to make BETTER decisions, the fear was lessened.

I have learned that when I make a decision, I am choosing against something else. I can't have it both ways. I have had to learn how to give up what I least minded sacrificing.

I am still learning not to 'second guess' myself. This is a big struggle for me. Second-guessing has always helped me see things from both sides and has been an asset as I have trained my kids and interacted with my husband, but at some point, I have had to say 'yes' to a decision and not look back. Taking time to process my decisions has helped me to not second guess myself once I decide to move forward with a decison.

Good decision making has allowed me to get on with life. Sitting on the fence has only left me on the fence and that was not the way I wanted to live my life. I have found I am comfortable to sit on the fence at times to process both sides, but once I made the decision, I would visualize myself climbing down off the fence and moving forward with my life. That was a success in itself.

I didn't value decision-making when I was younger. I would encourage any reader today to begin with small decisions and let your kids make decisions where the consequences aren't devastating.

These are just tips for basic decision-making hurdles, what about the really important life decisions...continue to check out our blog in the days to come :)