Decision Making

One thing I have learned about myself upon moving to Australia is that I have a few little quirks I get to learn to get over. Or learn to deal with.   I'm sure no one that knows me knows what I'm talking about. :)

First off, I have a condition with only one way to describe it.   I am a cross between  the dog on UP! and Dory from Finding Nemo.  I suffer from short term memory loss and have the attention span of - SQUIRREL!   The first time I told my sister this condition she laughed very hard because of how much it described me. Of course, the fact that I kept misspelling, leaving out words and typing the wrong words while we were chatting probably made her laugh a little harder...

Speaking of which, I got off the topic of what I was talking about in the first place.  These two problems add up into one big problem.  I can be asked to do something and unless I do it RIGHT NOW, I forget to do it and move onto another thing. Then I start doing that, forget what I'm doing and move onto the next thing.  You may think you have the same issue, but unless you'd watched me while packing you wouldn't fully get what I'm talking about.  Ask my sister. :)  Because there hasn't been a lot to do here, it hasn't been as bad. And maybe that's my cure. Stop doing so much!

Ok really, I'm guessing that if I went through my day, I could probably name about five times I changed what I was doing in the middle of what I was doing because I forgot what I was doing in the first place. Like burning the cheese sandwiches because I was on the phone with a realtor about a house... My kids were not impressed with their blackish sandwiches...

The next thing I've noticed about myself is that I like to be in charge - but don't like making decisions for anyone.  Wait, how does that work?  I haven't quite figured it out but its how my life works.   Last year I had the calling of Athletic person in my ward.  I was 7 months pregnant so I couldn't PLAY basketball so they had me coach.  17 women, 2 - 20 minute halves and I had to make sure everyone got fair play time.  WHAT?!   I had a few people that would 'help' coach so those that hadn't played much didn't know who to listen to. And I also had those that liked to complain about the amount of playing time they got.  So I had a nice meeting about how I was the coach and needed to be the one that was listened to and if there were complaints they had to come to ME and not to each other.

How did that work?  Pretty well actually. Decisions were given to me and complaints were made.  How did I do with it?  Not so well. I was the only one that was allowed to talk to the refs and I was scared to death.   I spent so much of each game trying to make sure everyone got in that I didn't even get to watch the game.  I loved my calling and was sad when it was done.  But the stress of being the one to make the decisions weighed heavily on me.

Fast forward to now and I'm really not any better at making decisions.  I don't know what I want to make for dinner. I don't know what house we want.  When there are no choices of houses, I'm sad.  But when there are about five choices of houses I get even more stressed because I don't know which choice to make!!  I ask everyone around me for their opinions.  I research until there's nothing more to research. I pray but then question if the answer I got is what I wanted or if it is really supposed to happen.   So I come to the conclusion that decision making is DUMB.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the fact that we have choices.  If you saw what my 5 year old daughter wears you'd know I let her make her decisions on the clothes she wears because I feel its important.  There ARE times I step in if its outrageous - especially for church.  But otherwise she gets her choice.  I even ask my kids what their choice would be with everything to do with our move.  I feel bad when leaving them behind in our house search because I want to know what THEY like. Of course by the time we're done with the house viewing I regret taking them because of how boisterous they are about choosing which room is 'theirs'.   So the next time I decide that they're not coming and I'm sad they missed out on the house I just looked at.

Today's major decision? Yet again, its a house.  We have two fantastic houses out there that we have the possibility of getting.  Actually, one we did get accepted for.  The other one we are collecting references for.  One is bigger, cheaper but further out of the way (which I prefer because I love the drive out there). The other is a little more, not as nice but its by the school we want to send our kids to and convenient as far as shops and parks to play in.

It makes sense to go for the house that's central to everything since we'd HAVE to get a car right now if we lived further out. Schooling is not free in New South Wales like we could get where we're at. We're talking $4500 per kids per year expensive!! Which would mean a 20 minute drive to and from school every day - thus the need for a car!  It sounds like its pretty easy to make the decision.  But my brain doesn't see it that way.

I think I'll go bake something or clean - SQUIRREL!!!