Decision Paralysis

Decision paralysis, otherwise known as ‘analysis paralysis' is the inability to make a decision.  Getting stuck for too long in the decision-making process is one of the prime reasons why we could be depleting precious time and energy from our day.  One of the biggest ways I waste a huge amount of time is by vacillating over little decisions.  It is ridiculous.  Have you ever spent minutes looking in your refrigerator and cupboards, trying to decide what to have for lunch, or standing in your closet thinking about what to wear or in an aisle at the drug store trying to decide on which toothpaste to buy?  These minutes of indecision is one of the most classic examples of how decision paralysis wastes time.  Think to yourself, how much energy do you expend on these seemingly irrelevant decisions?

Hendrik Kruizinga suggests we learn to differentiate between the minor and major decisions.  This has the potential to save minutes from our day.  Often, there is no right or wrong decision and the only wrong move we make is to not make a decision at all.  Every day, week, month that goes by without a final decision one way or the other can be a costly delay.  But sometimes, no decision is a decision in and of itself, and that is okay too.  I wish I had decided to get a horse much earlier in my life.  One regret I would change if I had it to do over.




Susan Peck says to consider these steps in your decision making process.
1. Match your time investment with the level of importance of the decision.
2. Automate and eliminate the need for decisions by building habits.
3. Choose to make your decision the “right” decision.
4. Break big decisions into a series of smaller, incremental decisions.

For me, some decisions are hard to make, or I don't want to make, or I know are best, but I am in denial and still won't make them.  Taking Stevie to the vet for her injured right hip/leg was the hardest decision I was facing at the start of this week.  She was showing slow improvement so I decided to wait another day and at least not have to pay for an emergency visit on the weekend.





Sunday 5/5 - Cinco De Mayo.  Contrary to what you might think, this is not a Hispanic holiday.  David Hayes-Bautista writes on the history of this holiday, "Although the holiday celebrates a Mexican victory of the French at Puebla on May 5, 1862, the answer to this question (How did it originate?) is not to be found in Mexico. It is found instead in California, Nevada, and Oregon during the Gold Rush and the American Civil War—for the Cinco de Mayo is not, in its origins, a Mexican holiday at all, but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California in the middle of the nineteenth century."  We Americans love holidays.



It was our first Sunday outside for Church, and although quite cold, the pavilion was very full.  We did notice a police officer patrolling the parking lot and later learned that due to the increased violence occurring in Churches and other public gatherings, starting today, our church now has a uniformed law enforcement officer on the premises every Sunday from 7:30 - 12:30.  It is sad this has to be the new norm.
Notice in the upper left photo how Stevie can't tuck her right leg under her as usual.

This second photo shows her from the other side and how the left leg is under her in a normal position.  Ughhh!  My poor kitty.

The gray skies and feeling of paralyzation due to my non-decision concerning several things, had me in a funk, and I was wondering if the thyroid medication I was taking was making me feel unmotivated.  It was supposed to make me feel more energetic.




I spent quite awhile here at my computer researching osteoporosis treatment and ended up having more questions than when I started.  Carol had sent me info that was yet another variable to what my doctor had suggested.  I took a nap, but 'sleeping on it' didn't help.  So I went to the barn to clear my head.




A horse is good for the soul.  Although, when I brought Amiga into the barn, I noticed she had hives all over.  What to do?  I was faced with yet another decision.  We went on a quiet, relaxing ride with Jan and just being on my horse and with a friend lifted my spirits.

I gave Amiga a Prevocox when back to the barn and would see how she was in the morning.

Monday 5/6 - Do you see what I saw down back, waiting for critters to come to the corn on the rocks?


There is a hawk perched on a low branch right about the middle of this photo.  Eventually he gave up and moved on, or maybe something else caught his eye.

Stevie was even better than the day before, yet still sore, so I was feeling better about just letting nature take its course and giving her more time to heal, in hopes she would be fine.

I left the house at 9:00 and didn't get home until almost 7pm.  It was a busy, productive, and fun day.

First I put in almost three hours of work at the pool.  This is me with our same hard working team of employees (Nancy, MJ, and Mike) who all work so well together.  Notice I have a brace on to support my lower back which has been hurting after strenuous activity.







Josh the pool maintenance man was also there.  We got all the pool furniture set up, including the gazebo and new umbrellas.  And we almost finished with most of the cleaning.

From the pool I went straight to the barn and enjoyed a picnic lunch sitting in the shade of the big Sycamore tree.  The horses were also enjoying the shade of this other Sycamore.

I checked on Amiga and she still had hives, maybe not quite as bad.  While sitting on her bareback while she grazed out front, I texted the vet and got some advice.





Once Sam from the ACC (Architectural Control Committee) arrived at the barn, he followed Jan and I in her car back to Stratford Dr. and then we walked part of the Holly Trail.  John wants to bring in a bull-dozer to make the hill safer and easier to ride.  We were hoping to get permission from Sam to do the work back in the woods.  Improving the Holly trail has been in a state of decision paralysis for months.


As it turns out,  most of the trail is on golf course property or common Fairfield Glade land, but Sam does need to check out who the property owners of one or two lots is.  

Part way down the hill we discovered four trees down, right on our path, so there will be no riding the trail from the creek up to Stratford, until this is resolved.

Sam and Jan headed back up the hill, but I walked back to the barn.  I moved some rocks in the creek to make that crossing easier and also de-rocked the trail all the way back.





Then Jan and I headed out on a ride.  We stayed together most of the time but I did divert and rode Amiga down the Holly trail and through the creek.  It was much improved.  But we couldn't go on up into the Glade because of the tree blocking our way, so we turned around.  Jan and I enjoyed our horses and being outdoors.  Amiga felt strong, collected, and sound during this ride (almost two hours) and I was feeling great about her progress.



When I dove into the drive at 7pm, what did I see in the balcony window?  Maggie, laying in the cat's bed.  Bad doggie.

Joe had grilled the rest of the ham steak so I had some of that with a tossed salad, rather than the tatter-tots he had also grilled.  We watched more Blue Blood together.

Tuesday 5/7 - This squirrel had been looking in the hole of this bird house.  Bad squirrel.

I spent two hours at the gym, watered grass seed, and then went to Bible study.  The rest of the day, 3:30 - 7:30 was spent at the barn.


Patty and Jo were just arriving back at the barn when I pulled in.


Zorro and Patty do so well together, and always look good.

I was glad to see that most of Amiga's hives were gone.  We have all been getting ready for the parade of breeds, so I saddled Amiga up by her stall.  When riding the parade route, I realized line dancing had started, so I rode Amiga back to the barn, put her in her stall and went to dance for 30 minutes.





Jan was riding Cash around while we were dancing.  I hitched a ride with Jan back to the barn.  Soon, Christy arrived with her big Friesian Wings and we all practiced for the parade.  Amiga was super wound up, worse than usual, so I followed Christy's instructions for slowing Amiga down.  We made progress, but I still felt like Amiga was not relaxed and I was on a run away horse most of the time.  I really need to go back to ground work.  I also hoped all the circling I had done with her hadn't hurt Amiga's legs.

Wednesday 5/8 - Joe left for Illinois at 8:00.  I really had a lot of work to do here at my computer but just couldn't stick with it, it was too nice of a day outside.  So by 10:00 I was headed to the barn.  I wanted to work with Amiga again.  Seen here, I had Amiga stand (still) at the start of the parade route, which she will need to do for several minutes the day of the parade.  She did so much better with our practice.





I had Amiga walk the whole parade pattern, then slowly gait it, then walk it again.  I had to slow her down a few times, but she was responsive and listening much better.  I never gave her the chance to get too wound up.  I did have to circle her once and when she stopped I had her stand still for a few minutes.  Seen right, she is headed back out into the mare pasture, and way off in the distance, Judy is bush-hogging on the blue tractor.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, with blue skies, gentle breeze, and low 70's temperature.  Since rain was in the forecast for the next four days, I wanted to get more grass seed planted.  First I hauled a bunch more gunk out of the pond to raise the ground level of the oasis at this next area, then I spread grass seed (green specks) seen in these first two photos.






Finally, seen in this last photo, I spread grass clippings over all the seeded area.






All of this, mainly digging out pond muck, took me much longer than expected and it was past dinner time when I had finished watering the new seed.  Too tired to do anything on my computer, I vegged out on the couch and watched Survivor, without Joe.

Thursday 5/9 - Things that go bump in the night.  I woke up with lots of swelling under my eye, and some discoloration there and above it on my forehead.  I had gotten up in the dark (trying not to wake Joe) Tuesday night and ran into the bathroom door.  So much for being quiet and not turning the light on.  I am not sure why it took so long to swell up, although it had hurt all day Wednesday.


For some reason, the rhododendron out front has very few flowers on it this year.
It rained off and on all day, resulting primarily in a long shopping outing.  But first I went to the Conference Center to do some practice on the training computer to refresh my mind on all I will need to do on the POS at work next week.

After trying to get the dog to do her business, I gave up and left for town at 11:00.  I hit several dollar type stores, looking for a certain kind of cookie I had bought, and liked, but couldn't remember where.  At the third store I found them.  I also hit Lowe's, Tractor Supply, Big Lots, and a thrift store before meeting Shirley and Patty at Shoney's.  I had just enough time to run in to get a milkshake and use the restroom.  We three proceeded, in Patty's car, to Muddy Pond.  Neither Shirley or Patty had ever been there.  It was a pretty drive through the back woods and country side.  Patty and I were both shopping for some tack, I a new chain for the chin piece and Patty new reins.



There was also the question about whether Zorro's bit headstall could be altered to keep him from chewing on one part of it.  Shirley and Patty were looking at it and discussing the options.

We hit all the shops in Muddy pond and then Patty dropped me back off at my car.  I got home after two more hours (had to shop at Wal-Mart) and Maggie was glad to get out for a walk.

Friday 5/10 - The forecast had changed from rain throughout the day, to rain not coming until mid-afternoon.  I still needed to do research on my medical questions so made myself sit here while also doing two loads of laundry.  Especially with different kinds of medications, but also with treatment plans, too many choices is not necessarily a good thing.  It results in decision paralysis.  I got very bogged down.



I wanted to take some stuff to the barn and get in a ride since the rain was going to hold off.  I was glad to see Amiga's welts were gone.  I spent quite a bit of time messing with tack and then rode for 90 minutes, doing the parade route at the start and end of my ride.   Amiga did a nice job today, although at one spot on the trail where she was rushing up an incline, she slipped and fell to her front knees on a large rock.  



This is a photo I took off my phone of the route I went.  I have an app. that records all sorts of information like distance traveled, speed, duration of ride, etc.  We went a little over four miles.  Some of the time Amiga was standing and eating grass.  Yes, I let her do that.
Once finished, I checked Amiga for any injuries from the slip, and she appeared fine.  I did a little extra pampering with hoof care and tick and fly prevention.  Amiga cantered off when I turned her back out to pasture, so I knew she wasn't hurting too much.  Next, to help out at the barn, I picked up sticks and then rocks from around the area.  The sticks went into the fire pit and the rocks into a washed out area by the pond.


I arrived home after six hours at the barn.  The rain still hadn't come and the sun was fairly warm, so I watered the new grass seed and this area that is in the process of germinating.








For some reason, this one area, seen bottom left in second photo, was slow to germinate.  The seed was planted at the same time and in the same conditions.  Maybe it hadn't gotten as much water.

As it often goes, once in the yard, I started picking up sticks, then did some weeding, and trimmed a few branches.  Next thing I know, it is 6:00 and I "gots ta get goin'."  I showered, fed and walked Maggie, grabbed a few beers and a snack to share, and was five minutes late (7:05) to the Light and Lively Dance.  I rarely come to a standstill when trying to decide whether or not to go dancing.  I had fun as always, and now that I know that this is good exercise for my bones, I am going to seek more dance opportunities.