Most of the big decisions in my life was made with an eye on the future. Considering all the pros and all the cons, trying to look into the future and decide whether it will be the better decision. Not the correct decision, not the best decision, but the better one. Will the consequences of this decision be worth the effort and time I am committing myself to?
I realized a short while ago that the 'big' decisions in my life were the ones that hardly affected me at all. The important ones, the ones that form your life, that form your relationships with other people, that define who you are, are made without any thought, any hesitation, any realization of the importance of the decision.
The first time I saw my wife, I knew she was the one for me. Split-second decision the moment I saw her. And she was not even close enough to blame it on pheromones, she just stepped from a car about twenty meters from me. She claims exactly the same, and it may well be, but that did not influence the decision.
The first time I touched a computer, I was hooked. Thirty-one years later I am still enjoying myself when pottering around with the 'latest' (meaning three years ago it was not available) technology. It changed completely, but it stayed exactly the same at the same time. This is possible because I look at it from two different viewpoints. Nothing to do with multiple personalities or anything, but I see it as a profession, where it changed completely, and as a hobby, where it stayed exactly the same.
The 'big' decisions in my life had more to do with timing, audience and location, location, location. That is why I took a lot of time and effort with it, because I was not taking a life-altering decision, the aim was solely to impress someone else. Does not feel so at the time, because the ego likes to strut around and look impressive, but it is only the 'look-again' slow-motion with running commentary, explaining with perfect hindsight what happened. The dramatized, Hollywood-version of course.
Was my 'big' decisions worth it? Looking back, it feels as if the longer I took to make the decision, the less its effect on my life. Decisions that I wrestled with for months to take, had some immediate effects, and nothing else. Things that took days to decide changed my life in unexpected ways, while decisions that took mere minutes to make had some major effects on my life.
This taught me something very important about making decisions. The more time you take to make a decision, the less will be its impact on your life. I am now taking my time with all decisions, and the effects are minute. I just hope somebody else will not get upset, and decide to make my decisions for me, as those effects are never pleasant.
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