How To Choose When Doubt Is Present
The truth about choices
I remember having a bar bathroom conversation in college with a friend of mine. She’d been with her boyfriend since she was 13. And they were about to move across the country and start a life together.
He was her first everything. On paper, it all looked quite perfect. But in the stall, she revealed something to me. She wasn’t 100% sure she wanted him to be it for her. She loved him completely, but still, an inkling of doubt existed.
I never told anyone about that conversation and even now I write it with ambiguity to protect the raw moment of honesty I was trusted with. This was nearly a decade ago. I sat waiting, wondering how this doubt would transform and how their lives would play out. But through marriage adventures, undertakings, and now a baby, they’re going strong.
It finally occurred to me that doubt could be there. It’s simply residual from indecision. It’s what’s leftover from choosing one thing and knowing that this choice means you didn’t pick any of the other endless possibilities.
No matter what you choose, there will always be a bigger pile of things not chosen, not pursued.
