Monday, January 12, 2015

Options overload!!

So, anyone who knows me well knows that I can be pretty indecisive about making sometimes small decisions.  And also, sometimes incredibly impulsive about big decisions.  It is not uncommon to find me spending FAR too long on these decisions and gathering input from all those around me.

"I don't know if I should do the flight that lands at 7:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m...."
"Should I get the soup and salad or the turkey sandwich..."
"Do you think I will need to wear the long sleeve running shirt or be okay with just a t-shirt..."
"Should I Instagram THIS picture... or THAT picture.."

And then you can counter that with:

"Sure, I'll run that marathon."
"Yeah, let's go to Iceland!"
"You recommend this bicycle to buy? Okay, where do I check out?"

Granted there is a lot more that goes into it than all of that, but pretty much I struggle with indecision sometimes.  When there are lots of options in front of me I stall.  So when you give me a single decision to make - "Do you want to go to Iceland?" then I can just say "Sure!" without another thought, rather than, "What country do you want to go to?"

So, one of the things that I am getting used to in Atlanta, and mind you, this is not a bad problem to have, is that there SO MANY OPTIONS!!  Literally, when you've lived in a small city for a long time like Albany decisions can get pretty easy.  And even then I still struggled sometimes.  Happy hour was a choice between 5 bars.  Dinner was a choice between a few different places I liked.  Shopping was a choice of which of 2 malls did I want to go to.

And now, omfg, there are a million hundred choices for everything!

I've been feeling this way since even before I moved here when I was trying to explore neighborhoods and everyone and their mom who had ever had a layover in Atlanta was telling me what the new up-and-coming place to live was and where I should absolutely get an apartment.  It was incredibly overwhelming and I made that choice on a whim.  And frankly now that I am here, I don't know if it was the right now.  Which I'm struggling with, but dealing.

But now, I'm trying to get myself settled and get into some routines and join some different groups/fitness programs.  And there are like 3 different major triathlon clubs, 15 different running groups, fitness classes and studios at all times of day and in every different neighborhood.  And all of this is almost paralyzing to me!  What do I do?!  Which do I sign up for?!  Which of these things hold my future best friends and running buddies who will make running fun again!?  Which thing will determine my future?!?

And all I can really fall back on, is who the heck knows.  I guess the good thing about making a choice is that you can always make another one.  The worst that can happen with most of this is that I will lose money.  And money is money.  Yes, it's important and I don't take that lightly.  But it's not the end of the world (hopefully.)

I found myself today highly stressed over decisions and choices that should NOT have been stressing me out.  I was up all last night, unable to sleep, thinking about things that should not have been causing me that much distress.  And granted, part of this is just who I am as a person.  I overthink EVERYTHING and always have.  Every cryptic or one word text message is a matter of an extensive analysis and could have 100 different dramatic meanings.  Every ache or pain is the cause of a budding tumor or signs of a coming fatal diagnosis.  Things in my life get highly scrutinized and analyzed when given the opportunity.

So today I found myself taking some of my old marathon training mentality and mantra of "run the mile you're in" and applying it to other aspects of life.  I used to tell myself this during long runs.  Don't think about the miles you've done or the miles to go, just run the mile you are in and enjoy it and feel it and experience it.  This helped me when I do long flights - don't think about the 8 hours you've been on the plane or the 6 more you still have to go, just figure out what you are doing in this hour/moment to pass the time and focus on that.

Today I told myself don't stress and overanalyze what will happen in the next few weeks or months about the choices you are making.  Don't worry about what you did last year or last week.  Just make a decision that is best for today.  And tomorrow we'll make decisions for tomorrow.   It seemed to help and I ended up on a 6-mile run with a new running group and meeting some new people, which I can't really complain about!

I hope you guys had a good day and if you're still reading this, I'd love to learn what you do when you are overwhelmed with decisions and choices.  Even if they are all good choices or viable options that could make you happy - how do you decide the route to go?  How do you choose your adventures?  Happy Monday!

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