26 February 2013 - Too many decisions

Freedom of choice is one of the things that are available to us in Westernised culture now more than ever. There are the big decisions. Who will I date and/or marry what career path will I follow, will I become a parent, buy a house or travel the world? Then there are the millions of day to day decisions. Will I take my car or the train? Will I have lunch with a friend or solo? Do I want a medium or a large coffee? (large. always large.) What will I eat for breakfast? Should I wash my hair or can it last another day? The most trivial and yet often time-consuming decision of which I find being deciding what to wear.

I admit, with shame, that I am one of those women who at least once a month pulls nearly every item out of their wardrobe - trying things on before taking them off in frustration. My husband revealed that if he comes home to the scene of a clothing bomb explosion he feels sorry for me, knowing what I'd put myself through that morning. 

I know it's a ridiculous first world problem and I cringe at the thought of explaining the "I hate all the clothes in my wardrobe and they make me look like a gremlin" dilemma to one of the world's poorest. Yet in this first week of uni I've been crippled with fashion indecision each morning, only realizing after I've managed to dress and leave the house how little the decision really matters at all. I feel like I've been negatively influenced by a culture of fashion magazines, shopping malls and catwalk models that have brainwashed me into feeling as though what I adorn my body with somehow conveys more about who I am than I think it really does.

After all, the most beautiful fashion accessory is always a friendly smile.

I actually read an article recently discussing the fact that having to make to many daily decisions actually impacts upon a person's ability to stay goal focused and exercise self-control. You can read the same article here. I don't want my brain to turn to mush over something as stupid as clothes. I need my brain in mint condition at the moment.

So, where possible, I am going to actively try to limit the amount of trivial decisions I'm making daily in my life. The first of which to go is agonizing over clothes in front of the wardrobe. How can I take some of the weight off of this as a decision? Some days I'm going to hand the choice over to my husband (who may well choose to dress me in pyjamas for all I know, but I'll go with it). Some days I'm not going to give myself a choice. It's white t shirt and jeans day. And some days I may just blindly reach into the wardrobe and throw on the first thing my hand comes into contact with. That'll do.

Who knows.... I may just end up being that annoying person in the bar who when ordering a drink simply states. "Surprise me" with a wink. "My brain is too busy exercising self control and focusing on goals to turn to mush with this type of trivial decision."