The Sickness of Indecision

Should I go now, or wait until later? If I go now, I may be the first one there. I don’t want to be first. Maybe I’ll wait a bit then go. I know, I will go and stop at the store and pick up a few items I need. No, if I do that I may get stuck in line and be super late. Besides, some of the stuff I need is frozen, it may be ruined before I get home. Hmmm, I can just drive around for a little while. No, gas prices have gone through the roof. Okay I will just read something. Gosh no, reading makes me sleepy. Geez, I am going to be late sitting here trying to figure out when to go. I hate being late. Skip it! I’m just gonna stay home and watch TV.

Does this sound like someone you know? I sounds like me. If you are in this dilemma at times you know the outcome of indecision well. The scenario above is describing a silly decision that would not effect anyone in a major way, or does it? I can’t decide. But seriously, even small decisions have a major effect on our ability to move forward in life. It is the compilation of not deciding on things, events, relationships, et., that keeps one frozen in time or remorseful thinking why we didn’t I attend, or take that course, or visit a departed friend, or say “I love you” more often.

We make thousands of decisions everyday without notice, like turning a door knob or looking in the mirror, just routinely. Making choices is paralyzing to some, avoided by many. Ten years pass, you develop a case of the “if only syndrome” and learn how to hate self in a new way. “If only I had signed up for college back then, ” we say to self and maybe add, “I probably wouldn’t have ended up a drunk or an addict.”

In my lifetime indecision has been both a bane and a blessing. Though I experienced the crushing pain of remorse, I also have had the wonderful blessing of using what indecision taught me to help others. In recovery from addictions, that is, those clean and sober in recovery but still fighting the impulse to use, decisions are seemingly impossible to make. Like the opening paragraph, it is like a committee meeting going on in your head that doesn’t want to adjourn. So how does one move past this?

We have one easy answer, prayer. Ask God to help you stay clean and sober everyday upon awakening. Be serious as though He was standing at the foot of your bed. Then ask Him to help you make decisions and take the right actions in every situation. Our problem has been trying to have the right outcomes when we are too confused or fearful to make the smallest decisions because we don’t believe in God, or we think He’s too busy to hear “poor me,” so we ask the bar tender, “pour me another one,” until we decide.

Make your life count. Ask God to help and be grateful before you close your eyes at night. This has worked for scores of people I know because they made the decision to no longer be indecisive. I don’t know who this message is for but it was for someone. Have a blessed day.