What Decision will you make?

Life is full of decisions. Whether you are simply making a decision whether or not to buy an apple at the super-market or you are deciding what to invest your time and money in, all decisions carry a certain amount of stress with them. I recently made the largest decision in my life so far: what university and program I want to apply to and what I want to do with the rest of my life. Obviously there are much harder decisions that I will have to make later on in my life. But that decision recently made me take another step on the path of life.

For many of us decisions can be extremely complicated. Each decision we make has a certain weight to it and if we are afraid that if we make the wrong decision it will not only affect us but the people around us as well. Our decisions are what will shape who we are and who we will become, so naturally we want to always do our best to make the right decisions. Decisions are by far the biggest thing that will shape our legacy. Each decision we make is like a stone falling into a pond of still water. The stone hits the water and the waves ripple out touching the plants and the fish. The fish then decide not to come in the direction where the stone fell because they don't know what is there. The plants however might welcome whatever life the waves that brings them some water from the pond. The fish repulse our presence but the plants welcome us. Our decisions will be the basis upon which the world decides who we are to them, how we will be remembered, and whether or not we will be remembered at all.

One thing that always amazes me about humans is how resilient we can be. We can withstand some of the greatest pressures and overcome huge challenges. But some of us might crack under certain pressures or give up on certain tasks as a result of stress. Having to make a decision especially under pressure is something that can be extremely stressful for many people. Just under one month ago I was under stress to find out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I knew that my decision wouldn't be set completely in stone, but I also knew that if I make the wrong decision here, then I would be wasting a considerable amount of money and time. Just like many other teenagers my age, we all experienced stress during this time. So this begs the question: How does one deal with stress? Many people deal with stress in different ways. Some may listen to music, some may go on a walk, the list can be endless. I think much of stress comes from our brains being overloaded with the complexity of the decision we have to make or the task we need to do. That being said, there are many different types of stress but I am only going to mainly focus on the stress found in decision making.

The complexity of the decisions we sometimes need to make is what gives us the most stress. Deciding whether or not to eat healthy is a relatively easy decision to make. You simply ask yourself do you want to live longer or shorter? If you answer that you want to live longer then your decision is made. But more complicated decisions involve life changing consequences and have a large amount of variables one needs to consider. So how do we take this complex mess of things and make sense of what decision we should make? We simply simplify it. When you have a complex math problem, you break down the problem into smaller problems until you can tackle them one by one. Take any problem you might have and it will brake down into smaller and simpler problems that you can solve. Author J.R.R Tolkien actually has a very nice quote which tells you what is at the base of every decision you have to make.

J.R.R Tolkien

One of my favorite authors of all time has to be J.R.R Tolkien. Not only do I love the rich world of Middle Earth and all of it's inhabitants, but the stories and characters teach so many fundamental lessons about love and friendship. Tolkien's books are constantly spewing forth wisdom that is sure to benefit the reader in some way, shape, or form. Most commonly, Gandalf the Grey is the one who is sharing wisdom and aiding his companions in not only physical strength but also motivational courage and mental strength. In the first book of the Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, the main protagonist, Frodo, tells Gandalf that he wishes that all the evil that has befallen him would not have happened to him:

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.

“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us”(Tolkien 64).

Frodo is in a very stressful and dark time. He is burdened with the darkest object in Middle Earth, the One Ring, and he must carry it across the world to destroy it. He must keep moving despite the fact that the evil object is slowing eating away at him and destroying him from the inside. If Frodo went on carrying the Ring, he knew that it would slowly destroy him. In the middle of his stress, he goes to Gandalf for some comfort and wisdom. Gandalf tells him that there is nothing Frodo can do to change what has happened. The past is the past and we cannot change it. He then proceeds to tell Frodo that the only thing he can do is decide what he will do with his time.

This is the only decision you will ever have to make in your life. What will you do with your time? How will you spend it? If you make this decision correctly as often as possible, then all other decisions that you make will be less stressful. If you decide to spend your time playing video games instead of researching universities and programs, then you will have much more stress when making your decision as to what you want to do with your life. Time is the most nonrefundable currency in existence. When you are born, you begin to pay one second for every second you live. You will never get that second back once you invest it into something. Eventually you reach zero seconds and that is when your life will end. Don't waste your time. All of the decisions that you will make in your life boil down to one question: How will you spend your time?

Links (in order of appearance)

Two Roads Diverge

Ripple

J.R.R Tolkien

Quote

Gandalf and Frodo

Works Cited

Tolkien, John Ronald Reuel. The Fellowship of the Ring. Vol. 1, Unwin Paperbacks, 1978.