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How to Make Decisions When You’re Feeling Anxious
Your brain wants to protect you from your own decisions, but you can decide to override it
Deciding to become a full-time freelance writer was itself a full-time job for me. I spent hours every day — for months — making lists of the pros and cons of being self-employed. But the more I deliberated over it, the more anxious I got, and then I would start the process all over again.
It feels a lot like what happens at the supermarket: I’ll pick up a box of cereal only to put it back down again and come back to it later.
The human instinct to weigh up the risks associated with each option is a survival mechanism that’s helped us navigate potential threats for millennia. It can be useful if you’re, say, stalking a woolly mammoth, but when you’re spending an hour on a Sunday night trying to choose between Ozark and Unorthodox? It can be paralyzing.
Of course, if decision anxiety is having a serious impact on your life, it’s important to seek help. Your doctor will be able to advise on the right course of action for you. But for decisions you know you can eventually make but just can’t move forward on, understanding why decision anxiety happens is the key to working through it.
