Since April is Stress Awareness Month, it’s the perfect time to declutter anything causing extra stress in your life. One of the things you may find causing you unnecessary stress is an excess of decisions to make, resulting from the hefty mental and emotional strain of being weighed down by too many choices and decisions to make. This severe overwhelm, or what is known as decision fatigue, not only causes stress but can lead to someone shutting down and incapable of making decisions altogether.
Common Symptoms of Decision Fatigue
- Irritability
- Indecision
- Procrastination and avoidance
- Impulsivity
- Going along with “whatever”
- Impatience
3 Steps to Overcoming Decision Fatigue
If you think you may be experiencing decision fatigue, know that you are not alone. Many people experience it today as the world around us constantly bombards us with multiple options for everything, even small things. Learning ways to manage and overcome decision fatigue is an essential part of caring for your mental health since decision fatigue can lead to anxiety and depression.
Step 1: De-stress and Utilize Self-Care Routine
When you find yourself in the thick of decision fatigue, the first step is to cool the brakes and do what you know de-stresses you. This is the time that you practice your self-care routine, be gentle with yourself, get enough rest, eat nourishing foods and remove yourself from any stressful situations or behaviors.
Step 2: Build Awareness
Once you feel separated enough from the intense overwhelm of decision fatigue, you can build awareness for the many decisions you have to make throughout the day. Through this awareness, you can start applying mindful decision-making. This can be done in many ways, like prioritizing making more important decisions first, creating daily habits and a routine, eliminating needless decisions, limiting your choices, or delegating decisions to others.
Step 3: Develop Personal Decision-Making Principles
Grow a sense of what your strategy is behind making the “big” decisions. Do you like pro-con lists, or do you prefer talking over the decision with a loved one for some perspective? Is there a timeline you need to give yourself to decide in time? Knowing how you best tackle the big decisions ahead of time will help make the decision-making process much smoother and less drawn out in the long run.
If you think you are the only one overwhelmed by all of the decisions you have to make daily, you aren’t alone. Learning how to overcome decision fatigue is completely possible and can be aided by following simple steps when you find yourself overburdened with decisions to make. If you or a loved one struggles with mental health challenges or staying sober, call Avalon Malibu. Avalon Malibu is a California state-licensed mental health and substance abuse treatment center that can help you in your addiction recovery and mental health struggles. At Avalon, we believe in meeting a client where they are and tailoring a treatment program unique to their needs with our continuum of holistic and clinical treatment therapies. Living a life of peace and contentment is possible; call us today at (844) 857-5992 to find out how.
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