Decisions, Strengths and Your Health
“I hate making decisions”
“I want you to make that decision!”
“I need allllll the information before I can make a decision.”
“Can you help me make a decision, please?”
Does this sound familiar to you? The truth about how individuals go about making decisions is the task is accomplished using innate strengths, just as with all tasks and this is why not everyone approaches decision making the same way. The end result may be the same, the path to get there may be completely different. No right or wrong, just different. Some people make decisions very quickly. Others like to collect mountains of data, process it and then decide. Some people, want options, lots of options. Others, as few options as possible. Again, no right or wrong, just different. It is helpful to understand how one makes decisions and how those around oneself make decisions. For example, one may need a decision to be made quickly, if that is not one’s strength, this is when a call to resources for help is in order. It goes without saying, knowing who can help in this situation beforehand, is imperative. In work situations, getting to know the strengths of team mates is helpful to build productive, collaborative, engaged, happy teams. In families and social networks, getting to know individual strengths allows deeper understanding, collaboration and emotional happiness. In addition to getting to know the strengths of those around you, empathy and communication (also strengths that everyone has) are also star players here. Empathy is important because when in need, and the need is communicated quickly and clearly, empathy spurs action first. Without empathy, judgement rises first, toxicity follows with resentment close behind.
Why do we need to know how to make decisions?
Well, it turns out it’s pretty important for our health, our whole health.
It’s about stress.
And you know what? This author is wondering if it has a little something to do with school attendance.
But that may need to be covered in a separate blog post…..
In the meantime, decision-making tools can help!
According to a study conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association , daily tasks and decision making during the Pandemic became more difficult. Because of stress about Coronavirus, according to the survey, nearly 1/3 of Americans (32%) were struggling with basic decisions about what to wear.
While the younger generation (GenZ) reported a higher level of stress and difficulty with basic decisions, parenting decisions during the Pandemic were paramount. Parents, we remember, right ? And for some of us it’s not over. According to the study, the decision-making fatigue for parents over just vaccinations for children over 12, under 12, and also for themselves was stressful to say the least. The article doesn’t even mention testing. Get a test? Don’t get a test; take the kids to school, don’t take the kids to school. The parent needed to go back to work, or needed to get work done from home, while home schooling needed to get done. Deciding how to balance the time and what was important and when was difficult and unprecedented. And what the article does spell out quite clearly is the impact and elevated stress levels to people of color, hispanic and specifically hispanic male adults. Hispanic adults were most likely to say they were struggling during the Pandemic and much of this stems from stress around decision making.
What does this have to do with our health, you ask?
According to the article in APA, “As a result of stress, nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults (74%) have experienced various impacts in the last month, such as headaches (34%), feeling overwhelmed (34%), fatigue (32%), or changes in sleeping habits (32%). Again, younger adults and parents were more likely to report this, with 86% of millennials reporting impacts of stress, closely followed by Gen Z adults (84%) and Gen Xers (77%); only 59% of boomers and 57% of older adults said the same. Parents were also more likely than non-parents to report experiencing impacts of stress in the last month (83% vs. 69%).”
It’s no wonder that as a health coach, many people stopping by my table at recent events are inquiring about classes on meditation and breath work and not as much about weight loss. Humans are stressed, they have anxiety, they are having trouble sleeping, they are having trouble with focus and low energy levels.
So the pandemic has stressed us all out and that stress is affecting the ability to make decisions. That stress is also affecting our health in a myriad of ways. So we have physical health affected, emotional health is affected and also decision making which can be social health and possibly occupational, financial, intellectual if it has to do with school. This is turning into a whole health issue quickly.
Let’s look at school attendance. It’s down. Students are pulling out of California community colleges at unprecedented rates - almost 300,000 since the pandemic started. Parents are pulling their kids out of public schools. In Elk Grove, CA - 1200 students have been pulled from the district for other options. Jobs are being created to figure out why kids are not coming to school. The data says that a predominant amount of the losses are non-white students. Why? Does decision fatigue have something to do with it… inadvertently…. meaning decision fatigue that turned into stress which turned into other health issues or just other issues? Is that a stretch?
Fatigued from making decisions? Have a decision coming up and just want to look at it differently this time? There are tools available for decision to lift the burden. There is always the PRO/Con list, yes. This time, try this:
Set a timer for yourself: perhaps 2 minutes
Brainstorm all the options - sky is the limit, no resource is out of bounds
Review the options, again with a timer - perhaps 2 minutes
From a strengths perspective, identify alternatives eyes went to first, sounded best immediately, “felt best because knew could do because….” Explore this and circle 3 : 2 minutes
Star 3 alternatives that seem like “crazy options” : 2 minutes
Write short paragraph about each of these decisions, how to make each of them work, or why it is the answer. (2 mins each idea)
Run these alternatives by a trusted friend / co-worker / partner / family member (flesh out further with ideas)
Further fleshing out if necessary.
Let me know what you think. I want to hear from all of you! Email me at: letsallflourish@gmail.com
