As I enter the final quarter of my junior year, all of the decisions and responsibilities that come with the near future have resulted in my trait of indecisiveness becoming more prominent than ever.

I have always struggled with making decisions. While at a restaurant, I might go back and forth with a task as simple as deciding what to order, and even ponder whether I’ve made the right choice after I have ordered. Needless to say, making any important life decision is not something I take lightly.

When I come across a tough decision, I tend to look at it from every angle— thinking of every possible scenario and usually sleeping on it (likely for an unnecessarily long time).

While I believe this is not necessarily a terrible way to treat important decisions, dwelling on something for too long is not the way to live; life’s spontaneity is part of what makes it beautiful, and sometimes, the best thing to do is to simply go with one’s gut and let everything fall into place.

Indecision is something I continually struggle with overcoming; however, just by living life as a tentative person, I have come to realize a recurring pattern.

When one is having an exceptionally difficult time making a decision, a large factor of their resistance to the issue at hand is typically some kind of fear or discomfort. An important part of overcoming indecision is being able to recognize the underlying fears and worries one has, and attempting to understand the nature of these fears.

In many cases, I have noticed that I initially tend to stray away from what is out of my comfort zone. Before making a decision, it is always best to consider the reasons for potentially missing an opportunity.

Avoiding something because it is not within my comfort zone is a habit that I definitely need to knock; after all, the only way to truly squeeze more out of life is to outgrow the fears that hold us back when the time is right.

A decision that I have been struggling with recently is whether or not to take an AP or honors level for one of my senior classes. I have reached out to individuals in both classes, considered every possibility, and formed numerous mental pro and con lists, yet I am still hesitant to make a decision.

Even when I remain on the fence about a certain situation, the best way I have been able to combat my hesitation has been coming to some kind of compromise, and recognizing that many things are not quite as absolute as they may seem, and there is usually room to change my mind or opt out of something if it truly is not working out once I give it a try.

I have yet to implement these habits into my instinctive behavior. However, if one thing is constant, it is that I am a work in progress.