I always like to be honest around here. Life has been pretty good around here recently. Not perfect, but very good. Like fall asleep happy and content kind of good. (I swear, junior year of college may just be my favorite year yet)

One thing that I think that’s contributing to this feeling of content is how I’ve been approaching big decisions. Decisions have always been a part of my life and they always feel monumental at the time: baseball or soccer in the fall, UConn or USC, what to major in, corporate job or travel the world, etc… Now that I think of it, making decisions is just a part of life. It’s not what the decision is, it’s how you approach the decision.

Making up your mind about something, deciding to change course, or simply figuring out what you want (or need) to do can be stressful and at the very least overwhelming.

And the worst part???

That feeling after you finally (actually) make the decision. It’s like buyer’s remorse, for your life. I used to spend days agonizing over the “what ifs” of the decision I ultimately chose. I used to take 45 minute showers to think aka drive myself crazy thinking about whether or not I made a mistake. I would spend days questioning what could happen. I also discovered an amazing skill to come up with 32,938 possible, disastrous scenarios.

Of course, I’ll never really know if what could have been. It’s not a mistake, it’s a new reality. And even if one of the 32,938 scenarios came true, 32,937 will not.

Instead of this self-imposed torture is totally not worth it. It takes some getting used to and it has kind of turned into a little mantra for me, but now I think, “I’ll take what happens as it comes” for the post-decision anxiety.

In the best situation, that is your decision making was spot on, worrying would have been pointless. In the worst situation where you could have chosen something better, you can deal with what happens… when it happens. You can always change course, you can always face and overcome a problem, and you haven’t ruined your life. (I promise, you really haven’t ruined your life!!)

So, take a deep breath. Trust your gut, make the decision… and handle any issues as they come. When they come. Don’t worry about if they will come.