I only learned one thing in 2022.
That’s not entirely true. I only learned one thing in 2022 I want to focus on in 2023.
This post started as “10 things I learned in 2022”. I picked ten because it made for a good title, and then backfilled ten things. Six were good, four were mediocre.
It felt wrong preaching these things since I am still trying to figure things out for myself. I cut the list down to six but this still didn’t feel right. I wanted the list to be something I would come back to and refresh myself on learned lessons. I decided to pick only the one I felt most strongly about.
The end of 2022 consisted of a lot of “adulting”. Moving to a different country, starting a new job, and buying a car. These things created a lot of unexciting but necessary decisions that needed to be made. Each of these things on its own was not overly stressful.
However, each of these things provided an opportunity to overthink, and overthink I did. I felt in every situation I needed to make the absolute most optimal decision. Even though I often had incomplete information, I felt if my decision was sub-optimal in any way I had failed. In many cases making the most optimal decision required predicting the future. I was being too hard on myself.
In all these situations making a sub-optimal decision was not the end of the world. Maybe it would cost more time or money but life would continue. The cumulation of these things was increasing my stress levels and detracting from my mood.
I realized I needed to accept I could not make the most optimal decision every time. In fact, I should expect that I will make non-optimal decisions, and thinking more or trying to predict the future will not change this.
Make the best decision you can with the information provided and move on. That’s it. Don’t overanalyze everything and don’t fret if the decision turns out to be sub-optimal. This is something that I have struggled with and continue to struggle with, but am working on it.
By stressing over the decision or regretting it afterward you are paying an emotional opportunity cost. Not only are you stressed, but you are also missing out on being happy. Over what? Over something that 1) doesn’t really matter and 2) you can’t do anything about.
Why is this the one thing I want to take away from 2022? Because every day there are decisions that need to be made. Every day there is an opportunity to overthink and let things stress you out that don’t need to. By consciously choosing to not let things impact you as much, you are also making the decision to feel better, to be happier.
Out of everything I learned in 2022 this is what I want to focus on. I want to focus on not overthinking the little things. I want to focus on moving on once a decision has been made. I want to focus on not letting things stress me out. I want to focus on being in control of my mood.
– Mitch
Quote of the Week
The most important trick to being happy is to realize that happiness is a choice that you make and a skill that you develop. You choose to be happy, and then you work at it. - Naval