Decisions Decisions March 27, 2014

It’s not one of their strong suits. Not that I can talk since I never make them myself. But I can without a doubt say that my dear people are bad at it. Decision making. From the ground up, it seems simple enough. Yet experience has taught me that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Sometimes its little things like dinner. It took almost a half hour to decide what to have for dinner tonight. This amazes me, one who eats the same thing for breakfast and dinner every day. Other times its big things, like mom’s recent decision about changing jobs. And sometimes its things that make me incredibly upset. Like when mom can’t decide what to wear. Nothing fits right, she says to no one in particular. Meanwhile I stand by feeling absolutely helpless. Those are the hardest ones for me.

I realized something tonight as I witnessed yet another debate about dinner. In the end, it doesn’t matter how big a decision it is. It matters that we make them. Because as one that doesn’t make them very often I can bear witness to – decision making is a privilege. Not a given. Decision making comes with experience, Understanding. Life experience. And it is something we earn rights to over time.

Even if it’s not always someone’s strong suit. At least in my opinion, it is this – the ability to make decisions – that drives what some refer to as destiny. While I find solace in the truth that everything happens for a reason, I also believe in the power of choices that foster the reason in the first place.

“It is what a man thinks…that really determines his fate,” suggested one of my favorite transcendental thinkers Henry David Thoreau. Decision making. From the ground up, it doesn’t matter how big or small it may seem. Each decision brings fate to life.

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So Many Choices February 19, 2014

It’s pretty obvious to me. Every morning I get the same thing for breakfast. Every night I get the same thing for dinner. And I’m not going to lie – it’s pretty tasty. Certainly not as delicious as the my favorite dog treats and raw hide bones. And maybe not quite as delectable as the occasional nibble of bacon, salami or peanut butter. But it’s definitely tasty.

So you can imagine my confusion at the frequency at which my forever people debate what to have to eat. In or out? Fancy or simple? Healthy or naughty? It’s all gibberish to me. And don’t get me started on what happens next when mom can’t decide what to wear. Though it is helped (a bit) by the previous questions, it’s never easy. Then there’s the shoes. And the jewelry. So many choices.

Indecisiveness has a hold on us around the Schmidt house and it drives me crazy sometimes. It’s more powerful than it sounds to be sure. It might not seem like a big deal, but (like anything) it always is a bigger deal than it seems. Not to mention the times when it stirs itself into a disagreement. All over something so silly as which pair of shoes looks better with a certain set of pants, which make up an outfit that may or may not be too dressy for the dinner destination of choice. It’s exhausting.

And I’m not even the one stressing out about these things. I’m just observing. I can’t imagine what it would be like to get caught up in the business of making decisions. From the ground up, I would much rather save all that emotional energy and apply it toward something useful. Like figuring out a way to translate dog thoughts into people words so I could tell my people to make a decision already. And so I could be there to support them when it ends up being the wrong one.

Because it seems pretty obvious to me. Certainly it’s not always as simple as what to eat for dinner. But when there are so many choices, sometimes the most obvious one starts at the beginning. It starts with the choice to decide.