Livin' La Vida Luna y Luca
Unmade Decisions
This past week was heavy.
- My dad was in the hospital recovering from an appendectomy. He's also waiting to address 2 monster kidney stones later this month.
- My mom's younger brother passed away on Sunday from heart failure. His funeral was on Wednesday.
- Dia and I are racing to figure out a move with our lease terminating at the end of this month.
- We had to hire an agent for Project Silver Spring
- We had to make a dozen or so decisions re: trim & finishes at Project Silver Spring
- We had to identify our pre-construction list price for Project Oliver
- We failed our final inspection at Project Hillside
- Luca woke up on fire Friday morning. He clocked a 103 at the pediatrician and they sent him to the hospital to test for pneumonia after testing for strep and flu. All came back negative.
These problems came with many unknowns and even more potential solutions.
Tuesday proved particularly difficult because my dad got discharged from the hospital, I interviewed an Agent at Silver Spring, I had yet to figure out who I was going to my uncle's funeral with, and Dia was asking me to identify what she could pack vs. what needed to stay out.
I knew I was cooked when I came downstairs after putting Luna down. The dining table was cleaned, the dishwasher was empty, and Dia was waiting for me at the sink to do the dishes. She did all my chores for me. Which means... 1) she's awesome and 2) she could tell how stressed I was.
After loading the dishwasher, we sat on the kitchen floor and came up with a game plan to clear bandwidth.
- Decision 1: Decide who I'm hitching a ride with to the funeral. A few text messages later... Done.
- Decision 2: Re: the move. I don't want to start packing yet. Dia does. She can pack whatever she wants, but I reserve the right to complain if something I need is no longer available to me... Done.
- Decision 3: We discussed pros and cons of all agents interviewed and went with the conservative bet.... Done
- Decision 4: Delegate all pending decisions re: Silver Spring finishes to Agent selected... Done.
- Decision 5: Price Project Oliver to sell, not sit.
Relief
Making those 5 decisions Tuesday night gave me the space I needed to be present at my Uncle's funeral Wednesday morning.
The second-order effect was they weren't clouding my judgment when Luca woke up sick Friday morning. If I was still juggling those unmade decisions in my head, I might have pressed Dia to send him to school despite how sluggish he woke up. Thankfully, I was thinking clearly enough to make an appointment with our pediatrician instead.
It's almost hard to believe how quickly I went from anxiously chewing off the sides of my tongue to feeling completely grounded after those decisions.
It's a good reminder to myself, and maybe to you too. If feeling bogged down by too many options / unmade decisions, reread notes from The Paradox of Choice & The One Thing.
Or just get yourself a partner who's willing to pick up your slack and sit on the kitchen floor with you until you figure it out together.
✌️
What I'm Working On...
