This is how you no longer procrastinate difficult choices

Most people prefer to postpone making difficult choices. As long as possible, just to avoid dealing with them. Eventually, it eats away at you and you end up sitting with it for so long that it can have a negative impact on your life. It’s something you know you can’t escape, but you also know that the choice itself will have significant consequences. You don’t suddenly feel completely cheerful again; making a difficult choice can unleash a lot of emotions you weren’t initially aware of.

For example, the choice to resign because you no longer find satisfaction in your job, or ending a relationship because you know it’s not how it (in your opinion) should be. Voicing the choice is one thing, but the aftermath is not easy either. Nevertheless, it’s important not to postpone these kinds of choices for too long. The longer you sit with it, the more accustomed you become to the situation, which means you essentially go beyond your own limits. This greatly increases the chance that you will start to feel down and tired. All your energy goes into trying to maintain something that only drains your energy.

The first and most important step is to talk to someone close to you who knows you best about your doubts and the choice you are facing. It’s not the intention for that person to make the choice for you, but it can be very helpful to articulate it out loud for yourself. It’s no longer just a cloud floating around in your head, but a situation that really exists. The support of best friends is also very important in the aftermath of the choice you have to make. When someone knows what you’re going through, you feel less alone.

Secondly, it’s good to outline for yourself why it’s so important for you to make this choice: is the situation as it is now no longer sustainable for you? A nagging feeling that you know is your intuition trying to tell you something? How will you feel after you’ve made the choice, in the long term? It’s good to focus on that, because in that way you can also start to feel relief once the choice has been made and articulated.

And lastly, it’s good to set a deadline for yourself. It’s easy to keep saying ‘now is not the time, because…’ But once you’ve set a deadline for yourself, and for example informed your surroundings that you have that deadline, it might just give you that extra push. Knowing that there are people ready to support you once you’ve done it may also bring some peace of mind. That will unconsciously give you a bit more confidence.

But above all: imagine how nice it will be when this feeling no longer hangs over your head. That a weight will be lifted off your shoulders when you make a choice, which is like the starting signal for new opportunities and possibilities that will ultimately make your life even better than you can imagine.