Decisions – Too much choice for an anxious mind.

Written by Robyn's Ramblings

The amount of weight that lies within each decision. It feels the easiest option is to just opt out. Not make the decision. Elude it. For each choice i commit to has an outcome that will in turn have an impact on something else… I read into each consequential action that could occur by making a resolution.

Scrutinising. Analysing the ramifications of each choice is catastrophic. It’s imperative that i come to a conclusion for each decision residing in my mind. Crushed beneath the importance of it all. It’s both unimaginable and unexplainable, but nonetheless crucially and painfully present.

It’s just too much. The overbearing significance of each selection that is presented to me for careful consideration, antagonises me. Too much pressure, too much doubt. I sit and will myself. I attempt to be pro active. To find a slither of motivation. I just can’t.

One final decision; i must succumb to the hopelessness. I relax, feel the last bit of self worth and dignity leave my body. For if i do not agree to this i will surely submit to the pressure, and suffocate in options and decisions. I feel myself slump back into my bed, i just give up. Evading and hiding once more. Safe for another day.

25 thoughts on “Decisions – Too much choice for an anxious mind.”

  1. Life can be hard and decisions can be tough especially if you’re prone to anxiety. I empathise with your difficulties and you write about then so eloquently and with great, yes, dignity. I don’t have an answer but I wish you all the best and urge you not to totally give up and I hope that you find your way out of the fog eventually. Because you are amazing and way you are feeling is not your fault but the product of a kind of sensory overload in an often stressful world. ☺

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  2. I read somewhere that not making a decision is also a choice that we make.

    You sound a lot like me, scrutinising everything…. And I suffer from anxiety, too. It’s very difficult- lately I find that getting in touch with my physicality does help. Getting away from my mind and stopping the endless loops of thoughts.

    I like walking, cycling and yoga…. Especially walking in nature. I don’t mean to be preachy, either- I know that anxiety is a very serious problem. It nearly drove me crazy at one point in my life.
    Sahara.

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    1. You dont seem preachy at all! I too find walking helpful, i try to walk and take pictures. Or even just a walk round the shops. I’m not the fittest person so im unsure about yoga but ive heard many people say that if they go for a run or to the gym that helps them. My anxiety is bad enough that i couldnt go to the gym but as i said i try to walk a couple times a week with my friend for a couple of hours and that really helps so 🙂

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      1. Sometimes I use the free yoga classes that you can find online – that way you can practice in the privacy of your home. No-one watching… 🙂

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  4. Listen to your heart and if it’s inline with your mind, then it’s usually the right choice. But sometimes we all make bad decisions so give yourself a break. No one’s perfect. Just learn from it and move on! I also struggle with indecisive behavior but my intuition has developed over time to the point that I trust it above and beyond all else.

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    1. This is actually really helpful advice! Thankyou so much. I’ve really struggled recently and this really makes sense and i think if i look at things from this perspective it will help me see things more clearly and logically. ❤

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      1. I’m so glad I could help! From one anxiety ridden person to another, I really appreciate your ability to write about those little things that we make into the biggest things in our head. Keep it up! Love your blog! ❤️❤️❤️

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  5. You describe this SO well and Im sure many readers can relate…even those that dont have anxiety can appreciate the intricate mind and how it weighs everything up when making every single decision. Its quite amazing just how many decisions we make in one day. Our minds are primed to help us survive and protect us. They act like a sentry keeping look out for danger. The brain and ego have a bias toward negativity so we all have a tough daily job keeping that in balance and encouraging our brain that things are safe to do. Mostly these mental discussions go unoticed and we make automatic unconscious decisions, but anxiety can play havoc and make decisions so much harder and drawn out, exhausting and debilitating for people.
    A SWAT analysis diagram can be somewhat helpful. If youve not heard of that before, well…you divide a sheet of paper into 4 with lines or by cutting. Write one heading on each square: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats and then list anything you can think of relating to your decision in each box. For the threats and weaknesses give each scenario a percentage rating of the likilhood it will happen and really come true how real it is…is it an imagined threat or a real threat. The diagram can visually help a person to see how the brain jumps ahead in time and assumes a situation will be bad based on how we felt in the past. Now it may or may not be helpful in reducing anxiety but can be helpful in reaching decisions.
    I highly recommend Elaine Arons book The Highly Sensitive Person. Also recommend a website called the Tapping Solution. Learning creative visualisation to imagine each scenario and to influence its outcome for the better.. Vishen Lakiani recently posted a great step by step video on youtube on how to do this I think the account was OmHarmonics.
    😊

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    1. Thankyou! I will have to give the swat analysis a go, it seems like it would be really helpful. Having illogical thoughts are the worst so that would really help with that i think. Also ill have to give the website a look too. I’ve been recommended a few books in regards to anxiety and mental health but i havent yet bought one, ill have a look on amazon later. Thankyou for your advice and help it really means a lot to me! It gives me faith that people can be so conciderate and caring, so thankyou for that and for the time you took to read my blog. I appreciate it all 🙂 x

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  7. It must be hard having to live through such feelings – i seem to be lucky and have it nowhere near as difficult as this – perhaps it’s through longer experience?? 😉

    All of the above commenters suggestions sound excellent to me! 🙂

    The only advice i would add here is that you may consider that even despite our best attempts to foresee the logical consequences of our choices and actions, we are largely incapable of accurately predicting correct outcomes of our choices beyond one or two consequences and so we should be unwise to weigh them too heavily in our minds. We can use more of our intuition and trust that whatever we choose or actions we take, the Universe will take care of us ( within reason – i don’t suggest you murder anyone for example). Learn to trust in your innate ability to do the right thing at the right time – and your abilities to overcome everything life presents to you, as it will – no matter what! 🙂

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    1. Thank you I’m trying to just go with things and see where it takes me recently more so that pre planning as much. It’s a hard path but i feel i have so much help now and that makes it easier. As always thankyou for your advice ❤

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  9. This perfectly depicts how I feel when faced with ANY decision, I can’t even pick which pasta sauce to buy when I go shopping… Each day is filled with a million small choices, over-analysing and over-thinking them just makes it nearly impossible to function.

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  10. I understand exactly what you mean… When you have anxiety, EACH and EVERY decision becomes overwhelming, weighing the pros and cons of each becomes a terrifying experience, that leads nowhere, ever… Even if you think you’ve made up your mind, the fear of changing your mind creeps up and never leaves you at peace.. It’s torture. I’ve been there.

    Lately, I’ve been trying to battle it by making a decision and accepting that even if it isn’t the best decision, I will fight the consequences. When they occur. Because if you think of it, it’s really the consequences we fear, the scenario of disaster we make in our head. Like if I chose this, and it doesn’t work out, the world will fall apart. Well, that’s not true. If we unwind that, and realize that it’s just our imagination making scary scenarios in our head, then we will be able to realize that whatever the decision we make, it doesn’t really matter, because even if things don’t go as we want initially, we are capable of changing them later.

    Here’s a video that I believe explains what I’m trying to say a bit better and that has helped me through my overall anxiety:

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