About this time last year I was in the middle of one of my cycles of trying to decide if I wanted to get another car. Every couple weeks I'd look at car reviews, or check Craigslist for used cars. I'd even go out and test drive a car to see what it was like. I'd also redo all the numbers in my head - gas costs, insurance costs, downpayments, interest rates, practicality, car personalities, how much of a car payment could I afford, how much would maintenance cost. This went on for months and months - perhaps 4 or 5 months.
This came back into my thoughts recently as a friend started considering another car as well. She's having similar thoughts and has spent some time already thinking about cars, looking at them, letting it all sink in. I noticed how much energy it was taking for her.
I realized about listening to my friend how much energy I had put into trying to decide on whether to get another car. I did finally decide at some point that I was going to keep the car another two years. After two years I would take a look again, but until then I was free to enjoy my car, and I had that time and energy back to put elsewhere. The simple decision of 'I'm deciding later' was huge. It even changed my view of my car and how I felt driving it. No more ifs, at least for now, just the plain piece of being in it.
While the car is specific example, I never quite realized how much energy indecision cost, how much effort it takes until the idea for this post came about. It makes complete sense now that I've written it. Even the decision to decide later, whether later is a day, a week, a month, three months, is a decision. It stops the wasted energy of stewing. Something my still come up earlier that will require a new decision, but until that time your energy can be more free.
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