My daughter worries about many things that I do not, but there is one area where she is by far less fretful than I am. When it comes to making decisions she has no hesitations. She chooses, she is happy, and she moves on. I tend to weigh every option, consider every feature. Choose, then compare some more, test my psyche to see if I am just "settling", then make a decision, and usually walk away still wondering if I've chosen well. This shows up especially when we are shopping together.
"Which one would you like, sweetie?"
"Oh, this one, Mom!"
"Did you see this over here?"
"Oh, but I want this one, Mom..."
versus:
"Mom, can we go now?"
"I'm looking to see if there's anything I like better."
"But you already put that one in the cart."
"I know, I'm just looking..."
I've never thought of myself as much of a "shopper". I like to go in with a list, get the best thing I can find and get out, but compared to her I am shop-crazy. It's the "get the best thing I can" part that I'm hung up on. What if I miss out on a better deal or some new-and-improved product because I just grab the first suitable thing I see.
I'm not saying it would always be wise to follow my daughter's method. Some decisions must be carefully weighed. There are choices that require careful consideration and thoughtful reflection. There are other choices, however, that should be quite straightforward that I fret over instead. I suppose one characteristic of wisdom is being able to discern whether the decision you are facing is so critical or not. Really how many critical decisions do most of us make during a day...my guess is not many.
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