Choices can be good to have but hard to make

"Multitudes multitudes, in the valley of decision"

- Joel 3:14

I went into the store to make a simple cosmetic purchase. It was a product I had used for years. When I couldn't find it, I discovered my brand was no longer on the market. Now I was faced with selecting a new one.

I began hunting over three aisles filled with racks of multiple brands offering the cosmetic I was looking for. I read a few of the packages to see what I could find. Some of them had fragrant aromas I didn't want. Others had a crayon or ink substance to them, but I didn't care for that. I found a few that were similar to my "oldie, but goody," but I just wasn't sure.

The more I looked through the racks, my mind reeled with indecision. I became so overwhelmed with choices, I'm unsure if I could have decided between paper or plastic. So, I left the store without making a purchase.

I'm not the only one facing this issue with what scientists now term "decision overload." My friends share their frustrations with it, too.

Living in the era of big box stores, there's more aisles and products to search than ever. If you can't find the product of choice there, the internet will provide you with unlimited items to spend your time browsing through.

Don't get me wrong, not all options are bad. I enjoy having multiple choices. But, once in a while, when the decisions are serious, expensive, or I'm faced with a change, making the right selection can be confusing. Experts confirm when this happens it mentally wears on us and we get stuck.

I'm glad God has given us freewill to choose. It would be a boring and tedious life without it. So, I figured out there must be some remedies for the demon of decision overload based on the wisdom from above.

With that in mind, I came to the conclusion that leaving the store and taking my time to decide wasn't such a bad option. It gave me time to relax my mind, collect my thoughts and seek some advice from others ("Be still and know ..." Psalm 46:10).

I realized not making unnecessary product changes, when possible, would be a confidence builder in making right choices, as would focusing on past decisions that have worked out well ("Do not throw away your confidence" ... Hebrews 10:35).

Sometimes placing boundaries on how many choices are allowed in the mix might also lessen the confusion.

God warns us in scriptures that each day we are in the valley of decision. So taking time to pray and ponder the solution (even for a moment) could keep the decision demon from rocking and rolling our minds.

But the most important and everlasting decision we will ever make is believing in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross that saved us from our sins.

• Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker, life coach and nurse. She can be contacted at annetteebudzban@aol.com or (847) 543-8413.