At surface level, indecision may not seem too destructive yet can have unforeseen consequences. In 1973 Walter Kaufmann published a book titled Without Guilt and Justice, From Decidophobia to Autonomy. From this, “decidophobia” was initially coined as a term to describe a fear of making the wrong decision.
Kaufmann states decidophobia or fear of autonomy as “nameless dread of the fateful decisions that mold our future.” Does this sound familiar? If so, you are not alone. Plenty of people in society today struggle with indecisiveness whether the decisions are small or large.
Multiple things may contribute to being indecisive. If an individual has other anxieties and/or symptoms of anxiety, that may put him or her at a higher risk of struggling to make decisions.
Genetics may play a small part if there is any family history of mental illness, specifically mood disorders like anxiety. Overthinking is typical for any anxiety-inducing situation. Overthinking leads to a decision becoming much bigger and scarier than it initially and actually is.
Perfectionism is also a conflicting issue that can lead to being indecisive. When someone is so fixated on the outcome of a choice, it can easily cause anxiety toward making a decision. It is too easy to fall into the trap of looking back and thinking “what if I did this,” or “if I would’ve just done that instead.”
In truth, there is hardly ever a clearly perfect decision. Life rarely presents with decisions that have right or wrong answers. People that wrestle with perfectionism in real life circumstances may view an array of options but see only one perfect path. They may see making the wrong decision as detrimental to happiness and prosperity. It is the fear of failure, or maybe even disappointing others.
Making the perfect choices in life like choosing a partner, a career path, place to live, where to send your kids to school, etc. is impossible. Making informed choices is different than worrying over a choice for the sake of worrying.
Self-doubt is another factor that may contribute to indecisiveness. This internal feeling may stem from past experiences or failures, or maybe not enough self-confidence has been established yet.
Either way, if you do not feel competent enough to face and make decisions on your own, it can lead to not making a decision at all which can really hold you back from success in several circumstances. This can occur in general or may be associated with various roles such as professionally, in parenthood, or relationships just to give a few examples.
In today’s world, we are overwhelmed with choices. Simply put, too many choices make it hard to make a choice! The Paradox of Choice, written by Barry Schwartz, is an ode to the idea that less is sometimes more. In the United States, we face so many choices to make on a daily basis. Many seem arbitrary like what will you have for breakfast, what toothpaste to buy, what song to listen to on your commute, etc. Cumulatively, all these choices can overwhelm the brain to where you don’t want to decide on anything at all, commonly referred to as “decision fatigue.”
If you struggle with being indecisive, there is no shame in admitting that may be the case. It is perhaps something easy to brush off but can lead to procrastination and avoidance.
Putting off decisions rather than dealing with them, and stressing about putting things off, can quickly turn into a negative feedback loop caused by indecision. It is best to break the cycle as soon as possible.
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