Notes From The Unknown: Day 120

Questions, like salt, need to be applied in just the right amount.

Please discuss. How does this play out in life?

I’ll start us out. This year has afforded ample issues and risk for all of us. Situations shift rapidly and we try to understand what we can and should do about them by getting facts . We pose hypothetical scenarios for ourselves, interrogate others, and investigate on the internet. We gain helpful data in this way, but sometimes a higher level of uncertainty leads to overzealous research. We get lost in particulars, overwhelmed by a wealth of information and alternatives. We lose traction.

Today’s message reminds me that enough is sometimes enough. As a natural fact finder, it is easier and perhaps more comfortable for me to keep researching than to simply make a decision, especially if I have heightened emotions around the issue. At some point, I need to stop investigating, make a choice, and act on it. I know that I’m stuck if I ask or research the same questions more than once. When that occurs, I can pause and ask myself why I am afraid of moving forward. Once I’ve dealt with my fear—hopefully quickly, so I don’t substitute one behavioral loop for another—I can make a decision and execute it. Should my choice need tweaking later, I can identify what isn’t working and adjust. Asking just the right amount of questions frees me.

How about you? Are you impulsive, overly thorough, or somewhere in between in your approach to decision making?