Making decisions

Everyone has a strategy for making decisions. Some "go with the flow", others go with their instincts.

"Difficult problems in life should not be avoided, but rather embraced", Stoic philosopher Epictetus

A decision is simply an action derived from the information you already know. It often has an emotional and intellectual component. In other words, it maybe something you know you should do, but something you don't actually want to! It is always best to do the thing you "should" do, as this is how people develop. The harder it is, the greater the sense of achievement whether you succeed or not, because the sensation of reward comes not from the fact you overcame the actual situation, but that you overcame your own reluctance.

Other times you are not able to intellectually decide the right option. If this is the case you can "guess", but the best strategy is determine what information may assist you in making the "right" decision. This may sound like a long process but the more information you use to validate your choices the easier and quicker you will be able to make the right choices in the future.

Life choices are incremental. In other words, they are rarely isolated, so although a small bad decision is just that, a number of small bad decisions often amount to a large problem. People often make compromises with the belief that its only a small thing. But one compromise often leads to another, and another, and before you know you are miles away from the place you would otherwise have been had you made the right decisions.

It is worth remembering that simply doing something about a situation is often better than nothing. Imagine you are stuck in a traffic jam with nothing moving, a frustrating experience. But you decide to take the small road to the right; you have no idea where it goes, but just "going" feels better than not, even if it takes you longer to arrive at your destination. So indecision can be more frustrating than making the wrong decision.

Many decisions also have an emotional component and there are a lot of things that can occur in your life that have an impact on your emotions which, in turn, will have an impact on your ability to make sound decisions.

"That action is best which procures the greatest happiness of the greatest number", Francis Hutcheson

Health warning: Alcohol. Alcohol (and other drugs) effect you emotions, in fact alcohol in particular suppresses your emotions (and therefore your ability to make sound decisions) which is often why people foolishly rely on it to deal with uncomfortable emotional situations. But the body doesn't like substances affecting its balance so it fights back. It does this by exaggerating your emotions in an attempt to provide you with the ability to make good decisions.

But as the alcohol ebbs away (about 1 unit per hour) there is a lag in your body's ability to reduce your now exaggerated emotions so people often feel a heightened sense of emotions the following day. This can lead to some volatile situations.

If you recognise this in yourself (or simply know that you had quite a lot to drink the night before) it is best to delay making important decisions and try to avoid thinking about depressing subjects as they will probably provoke feelings which far out-weigh the subject matter; for instance feelings of paranoia and depression which will all feel very foolish in a few days time. Watch a good video, read a good book, or go for a walk.

Don't watch a scary film. I watched "the exorcism of Emily Rose" with a particularly bad hang-over and therefore, heightened emotions. Part of the film is about the "witching hour", said to be a particular time in the morning when all the bad things happen.

I've seen plenty of horror films without batting an eye-lid. But my hang-over gracefully lifted my mental barrier and allowed the film to get under my skin. Sure enough that night I awoke at the "witching hour", and while I lay in bed with an un-rationale feeling of fear, the foxes happened to be searching for a mates outside. If you haven't heard foxes mating – it sounds like people screaming.

My new rule – don't watch a scary film on a hang-over.