Anxiety and Decisions
Have you seen any examples of before and after pictures by a person who participated in a fitness program such as P90X? My favorite pictures are the individuals missing a body part (like a leg) and the caption says, “What is your excuse?” Check out this link http://www.buildahardbody.com/whats-your-excuse/
Now that is inspiring!
I have a similarly inspiring psychological story. I recently provided talk therapy for a person well over 100 years old. This person wanted to work on areas of anxiety and problems with relationships. This person was not inhibited by memory (i.e. dementia) or verbal abilities. In a way, it reminded me of those pictures of people who overcome adversity and ask the question, “What is your excuse?” Here was a person who remains motivated to improve the quality of life by trying to solve problems.
If you have problems with anxiety or some other types of issues, make the important decision now to get help. See my page on referrals for licensed professionals in your area trained to help you.
Many decisions we make are influenced by anxiety. This often results in avoidance. The remedy to avoidance is to take action.
In general, there are so many decisions that are made during a lifetime. Life is the sum total of decisions. Should I join the military? What should I do after high school? What should I do after college? Where should I go to college? What should I major in? What occupation should I choose? Should I choose this partner? Would he make a good husband? Should I change jobs? What job should I take? Should I move?
How decisions are made is as or more important than the actual decision. Let’s take a closer look at the process of decision-making. If you’ve lived a little, you’ve heard of the pros and cons list. When I was transferring graduate schools, I wrote out a similar list. I wrote out the advantages and disadvantages of transferring and the advantages and disadvantages of not transferring.
However the decision is made, I am a huge proponent of deciding and not sliding. Sliding involves sitting on a canoe and just going wherever the current takes you. It is sort of dependent on the momentum of life. Deciding is not based on momentum.
In college, one of my professors said there are three types of people: (1) people of impulse, (2) people of deference (those people who don’t decide), and (3) people of impetus. People of impetus are those who make tough decisions and sacrifice for others.
Anxiety impairs our decision-making in a variety of ways. Let’s take a look at some of those ways.
1) “Moving away from” cognition. Many people when considering a decision tend to make the mistake of moving away from something rather than moving toward something else. I have a lasting memory of former colleagues asking people to meet them at a bar to celebrate finally leaving a job because of “disagreements.” It was always striking to me that the celebration was based on leaving a job but they had no replacement job. So, now what? The remedy is “moving toward” and not “moving away” in a life decision.
2) Emotional reasoning is a cognitive distortion that affects decisions; this involves believing something is true because it feels true. Change often brings about elevations in serotonin that naturally increases visceral pleasure. Consequently, people can make a decision to change something (i.e. a relationship, a job) because it “feels right” without carefully considering the consequences. Of course, on the other hand, people also avoid making changes and stay in their comfort zone (i.e. staying in a job rather than moving toward college). In this case, it is easy to get stuck (i.e. like in an unhealthy relationship). In both cases, decision makers have to be careful of emotional reasoning.
3) Overwhelm; if you listen to my parenting podcasts, one emotion often seen in parents is overwhelm. Parents who can balance life reasonably well are able to be aware of those times when making a decision is smarter than other times [and they fully know when they should wait on a decision]. Sometimes, “Let’s sleep on it” is wise!
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.
Plato
Have you seen any examples of before and after pictures by a person who participated in a fitness program such as P90X? My favorite pictures are the individuals missing a body part (like a leg) and the caption says, “What is your excuse?” Check out this link http://www.buildahardbody.com/whats-your-excuse/
Now that is inspiring!
I have a similarly inspiring psychological story. I recently provided talk therapy for a person well over 100 years old. This person wanted to work on areas of anxiety and problems with relationships. This person was not inhibited by memory (i.e. dementia) or verbal abilities. In a way, it reminded me of those pictures of people who overcome adversity and ask the question, “What is your excuse?” Here was a person who remains motivated to improve the quality of life by trying to solve problems.
If you have problems with anxiety or some other types of issues, make the important decision now to get help. See my page on referrals for licensed professionals in your area trained to help you.
Many decisions we make are influenced by anxiety. This often results in avoidance. The remedy to avoidance is to take action.
In general, there are so many decisions that are made during a lifetime. Life is the sum total of decisions. Should I join the military? What should I do after high school? What should I do after college? Where should I go to college? What should I major in? What occupation should I choose? Should I choose this partner? Would he make a good husband? Should I change jobs? What job should I take? Should I move?
How decisions are made is as or more important than the actual decision. Let’s take a closer look at the process of decision-making. If you’ve lived a little, you’ve heard of the pros and cons list. When I was transferring graduate schools, I wrote out a similar list. I wrote out the advantages and disadvantages of transferring and the advantages and disadvantages of not transferring.
However the decision is made, I am a huge proponent of deciding and not sliding. Sliding involves sitting on a canoe and just going wherever the current takes you. It is sort of dependent on the momentum of life. Deciding is not based on momentum.
In college, one of my professors said there are three types of people: (1) people of impulse, (2) people of deference (those people who don’t decide), and (3) people of impetus. People of impetus are those who make tough decisions and sacrifice for others.
Anxiety impairs our decision-making in a variety of ways. Let’s take a look at some of those ways.
1) “Moving away from” cognition. Many people when considering a decision tend to make the mistake of moving away from something rather than moving toward something else. I have a lasting memory of former colleagues asking people to meet them at a bar to celebrate finally leaving a job because of “disagreements.” It was always striking to me that the celebration was based on leaving a job but they had no replacement job. So, now what? The remedy is “moving toward” and not “moving away” in a life decision.
2) Emotional reasoning is a cognitive distortion that affects decisions; this involves believing something is true because it feels true. Change often brings about elevations in serotonin that naturally increases visceral pleasure. Consequently, people can make a decision to change something (i.e. a relationship, a job) because it “feels right” without carefully considering the consequences. Of course, on the other hand, people also avoid making changes and stay in their comfort zone (i.e. staying in a job rather than moving toward college). In this case, it is easy to get stuck (i.e. like in an unhealthy relationship). In both cases, decision makers have to be careful of emotional reasoning.
3) Overwhelm; if you listen to my parenting podcasts, one emotion often seen in parents is overwhelm. Parents who can balance life reasonably well are able to be aware of those times when making a decision is smarter than other times [and they fully know when they should wait on a decision]. Sometimes, “Let’s sleep on it” is wise!
In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.
Theodore Roosevelt
A good decision is based on knowledge and not on numbers.
Plato