When we make a commitment to follow our hearts and create the life that we have been imagining for ourselves, it’s an exhilarating, exciting feeling at first. But inevitably, as we start taking those first tentative steps towards making it happen, the seeds of something other than excitement start to grow; we become afraid to make the wrong decisions and we begin to doubt. We doubt ourselves. We doubt our decisions. We doubt whether we really want what we want. We doubt whether we deserve to have what we want. We doubt our abilities to follow through with our plans. We doubt our internal wisdom.
Don’t avoid decisions
In our insecurity, we start to compare ourselves to others and wonder how we measure up to their efforts and accomplishments. We start to worry about what others will think about us or what we’re doing. We start to worry about what they’ll say about our dream, and we’re terrified that they’ll break it. So we squash that dream back inside of us, packing it down deeply in the hopes that if no one can see it, then no one will hurt it… in the hopes that no one will hurt us.
And there we stay. Rooted in place, opting for the safety of the status quo rather than making a decision to do something – anything – that could move us closer to what we really want and maybe allow that dream to blossom into something incredible. In our terror of doing the wrong thing, or of making the wrong decisions, we elect to avoid making any decisions at all.
There are no wrong decisions
But the fact of the matter is that there are no wrong decisions. There are only different paths and different experiences; different ways of getting to where we want to be. And letting ourselves get caught up in which decision is the “right” one to make, constantly flipping back-and-forth between our options, only fuels our self-doubt and keeps us mired in that wasteland of uncertainty in which nothing is ever accomplished.
It may feel easier not to choose at all, but the greatest risk we can take in life is to avoid all risks. And the only wrong decision we can ever make is to not make a decision at all. When we avoid decisions, we give up our own power and we allow the views, opinions and directions of the outside world to override our own truths. In making a deliberate decision, we may not always get the outcome we had hoped for, but at least we’ve asserted our own power and started down a path our own choosing. In making a decision — any decision — we bring ourselves closer to our dreams.
Go with your gut
When we make a decision, it’s usually best to go with our first instinct or gut feelings. Our minds are constantly processing mass amounts of information, and most of it is done on a subconscious level. When we go with our gut it’s usually based on information we’re not even aware that we have, in combination with our own inner wisdom. Whatever happens, at least we’ll be moving and doing, because it’s this action that provides the Universe with the avenues in which it can manifest awesomeness for us. We can always make course-corrections along the way if things aren’t lining up exactly the way we wanted them to, and in our action, we’ll come across new and maybe even better things than we had originally envisioned.
But we’ve got to make that decision to move, first…
photo credit: (c) Can Stock Photo
This is awesome! I had regretted a decision I had made, even when seeing the list if pros was longer than that of cons while drawing up a list of things I learned and experienced with my decision and without it. With LOA, I learned more about the process and journey and the fact that I saw way more with the path taken and yes, I can always go back to the first plan. So, no fretting required. This is gold!
No fretting required… 🙂
Sounds like you’re starting to feel better about that decision… I know it’s been bothering you for a long time, and I am so glad to hear that you are beginning to make peace with it. This will be the start of your next chapter, A. — once you can let go of the regret that you’ve been holding onto surrounding this whole thing, you’ll be able to move on. Enjoy the journey — it may be a different route than you had originally planned, but if it’s that important to you, you’re still going to get there, and with everything that you’ve learned along this alternate route (that you would not have had the opportunity to learn and experience had you taken the original route) that destination will be even more exciting and amazing than ever!