Over the years I have set lot of principles for myself that guides my life in the direction I prefer. Which means I live by combination of different kind of moral code that deploy based on the kind of situation I find myself. Behind my shield and armour there has always be something that keeps me from going astray which I consider to be the backbone behind by ability to come up with these principles and live by them.
Most times we hear of statement such as "Think before you act" for a person like me I take this statement very seriously, in fact I think way too much before I dare to act. Life is full of load of decisions to make which decides how we navigate our day to day activities and choose among alternative choices.
For each individual we all have different ways and pattern in which we make use of to narrow down our choices or factors that influences our decision making ability. It is no doudt that our personality plays a vital role in decision making and the ability of an individual to make informed decisions also depends on how knowledgeable we are.
As an individual, nothing about me as ever been straight forward, for most people making decisions is as easy as snapping a finger but for someone like me plagued with a mind condition called over-thinking which has made me paranoid over the years. I have to constantly second guess every decision I make over and over again.
Sometimes despite thinking about it for a long period of time, I might still not be able to come to a conclusion about which decisions to make. The funny aspect of this is that some of the decisions I find difficult to comprehend are mostly simple but it all comes down to how my mind intend to interpret it. Probably because of the traumatic experienced I have had as a result of not thinking something through before going ahead with it.
Thinking has reduced my ability to be reckless, I find myself making only informed and beneficial choices most times. I'm extremely calculative of my steps especially when I really want to be. Over the years as I grew older I have gotten better at it because when I was a child, I was an introverted overthinker, which is one of the reasons why I started writing because I feel shy and reluctant to share my thoughts with others and most children of my age, they see me as a weirdo, wondering why a child could reason like I do.
But these days to an extent I can consider myself to be an extroverted Overthinker though with limited social activities, no body hates parties like I do, especially the ones with loud music. It prevents me from thinking which in return makes me feel sick. I have made a lot of progress in my life due to my ability to think about things before making decisions, I have become more determined in achieving my goals and objectives, avoid reckless choices e.t.c
My ability to think before I act has its own spec, have you ever look at a person and believe you know what they could be thinking or the next action they might take. yeah I know what you must be thinking, this guy is a weirdo. I was right, that was exactly what you were thinking. The truth is, as humans if you pay more attention to details in the process of making a decision, you are likely to see more loopholes which might have not been discovered if you pay less attention to it.
Though most people might consider my habit of overthinking my decisions to be an excessive habit of the mind or being paranoid which might be true but it goes beyond that, it is a skill because it influences my ability to perform tasks after carefully analysing every possible details, it is like standing still and watching the end of things that is yet to occur. I'm not saying I'm capable of seeing the future but I could predict most result of my actions before it eventually happens.
There are things such as consequences, risk, result e.t.c I mostly consider before making a decision which might take forever because it is better to be safe than sorry, Which is why I don't make hasty or drastic decisions. I always remind myself that "Every action begets consequences", which can also be considered as another moral code of mine.
I give myself a lot of time to process before coming to a conclusion, though this has cost me to lose some opportunities due to failure to decide which step to take as soon as possible. But the thing about making decisions is that despite the fact that I consider a lot of things before making decisions there are times I still end up choosing wrong, due to the fact that things might not go as I have planned it.
But instead of being paralysed by self pity, I prefer to keep going. I would not waver, over the years not having things my way had become a part of the plan. I tell myself "I have plenty of time for regrets when I'm dead, for now that I'm still living, I have to keep pushing forward".
I believe as humans we can't always have everything figured out, coping with mysteries and uncertainties is all part of human development, it adds to our experience, it makes living more adventurous. what is the point of life if everything is all figured out? wouldn't that take the fun out of living? "I strongly believe that if it is meant to be it will be".
This write-up was inspired by week 34 episode 2 - SciFi multiverse prompt titled "Core values that guide our life decisions" in SciFi multiverse community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
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