Question

There are times when I have to make some big decisions about my life. So, I reflect, consider and wait until the last moment to make it, to give myself time. But then after making the decision, there's this wavering nervous energy that doesn't want to let go, wanting to continue the feeling of doubt, a wavering kind of feeling about the decision. What's going on? How do I stop worrying about a decision that has already been made?

Answer

You could always remind yourself "Good luck, bad luck, who knows?" to get over the doubt that comes right after decision making. Because it's classic, we're struggling with a decision, we've got two things that seem to be pretty good, we finally choose one, but oh no, Mara's not going to let up that easy, right? Mara wants to torment you after you've made the decision and go, "Aw, you've made the wrong one, heh, heh!" Then if Mara comes in and says you've made the wrong one, you can go "Whoa, OK. Good luck, bad luck, who knows? Let's see what happens. If it is the wrong one, I'll try to make a new decision based on that experience and do something better." But quite frankly, often you can't change it anyhow! You get an offer to have a job, you decide not to take it. The next week you think you want to take it, someone else has it already right? So often, when you make a decision, there's no going back anyhow! Sometimes it's totally Mara just playing its game with you, other times, go with what you thought was alright and see what happens.

However, having said that, maybe you actually find out, "Hey, wait a minute that's wrong!" Because we also don't want you to make a decision that's going to lead you into pain. So, maybe a week later you actually discover, "Hey, it's wrong." For example, I took a job once, I quit after two days, then I stayed for three weeks because they begged me to stay. Aren't you happy I never became the accountant that they wanted me to become! Yeah, I made the decision to become an accountant for a little while, then I decided, "Hey, this ain't for me!" There wasn't even a window in the room! Yeah, thirty years ago. So, sometimes you make a decision and you go that way, but you might make a brand new decision a few days later or a week or a month, and that reverses the decision based on your new wisdom. Life!

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