Throughout our lives, we will face several difficult choices. Where will you live? Which profession will you choose? Who will you marry? For many, these decisions can be very overwhelming and stressful. But what if they did not have to be so overwhelming? Philosopher Ruth Chang gives us great perspective to help us with these decisions. First, we should take a look at what makes a choice difficult? In most situations, what makes a choice difficult is because there is no clear cut better option between the choices. Therefore, if neither choice is better than the other, how do you decide?!
Too often we let outside sources and opinions influence our decision process. However, human beings possess a wonderful ability to create reasons. When faced with a difficult choice, Ruth recommends to reflect inward first and ask ourselves some questions. Which decision will help me achieve my goals? Which decision aligns with my morals and principles? These questions should help us create the proper reasons for ourselves that will help make our choice easier. If you think back to some of your difficult choices you’ve made throughout your life; deciding which job to take, the house you live in, etc., in each of these scenarios you likely created reasons which triggered which decision you ultimately made. Therefore, when we face hard choices in the future, we shouldn’t pull our hair out. Instead, we should welcome the opportunity to exercise our unique ability to create reason and further define who we are and what we believe in.
Interested in learning more? Below is Ruth’s TED talk.
https://www.ted.com/talks/ruth_chang_how_to_make_hard_choices
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