*Our Decisions to Our Choices

Life offers us full of choices. Isn't that awesome? Some are easy ones and, hence, we could make quick good decisions. However, there are other choices in life which are complex and require us to contend for some time to reach one. For some of the decisions to be made, trading off may be needed. From choosing toys (for kids) to opting for a spouse, or one's career, or whether to live the rest of one's lives in a foreign country (for adults), all choices require our decisions. At this information age, making choices and moving on with our lives seems increasingly difficult - with almost all types of choices available physically or virtually. In fact, most often the trend appears to blatantly make our choices open indefinitely, even for the ones we consider easy choices. Have we become cautious and risk-averters, and probably 'wiser'? When I was a boy, like many of my age at that time, I remember I used to be asked by family (or friends of the family) to choose between this or that toy (of course, I was often reminded to come up with only one, of course), and if my memory goes right, it didn't take me a minute to choose one of them, despite what I felt later. Currently, the scenario is different – I can tell you a story - you may have faced the same situation with me and may resonate to this: My boys often tell me to wait (for as long as they want) to decide on their choices, despite the same reminder I give them time and again – “you have got only one choice and you must make it now”. Among the many instances I have had with my kids, I remember this one very much: ” Two years back I told them I was going to buy them different phones than the ones they had, of course, with a lot of push from their side (The ones they had were quite good to have their routine calls and as they were also smart phones and not so old for the time, though). It took them virtually three weeks to come to a decision…Whoooo! Well, one thing is different for sure – the current generation are literally "supplied" by many glittering possibilities that could deter them from deciding their choices. I can understand, though, that for some of the choices (mentioned earlier like career , spouse and the likes), opting the real one choice that really matters is difficult, as it involves swift thorough analysis of the pros and cons of the choices. Having said that, whatever choices we encounter in life, they still need our decision, sometimes a very quick one, anyway. Looking back, all of us have had big moments and misgivings of our decisions and choices we had made. And that's life. We need to live with them. Nevertheless, we need to move on and work on our regrets and cherish our right decisions. All in all, with this information age, we encounter a lot of choices at a time, and as we see it these days, one could be obliged to put off one’s decisions for some other time, even for the relatively simpler choices. But if one just get used to lingering on one's choices, there might be further repercussions. Time is tolerant for some but harsh on others for not taking decisions. As Jose N. Harris puts it, " Waiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing which decision to take can sometimes be the most painful..."

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