Thursday, October 1, 2026
Remember “snap decisions”?
They’re now DOA.
I sit down to write about the epidemic of obsessive overthinking that grips many of us as we try to get through the day, decision by decision. Should I set the alarm for 7:15 a.m. and have time for coffee, or 7:25 and sleep 10 more minutes? Should I wear the boots to work? And how long should I think about this? You take my point.
The problem isn’t just that the process of “choosing” is overwhelming. It’s that we can’t think fluidly. Our thoughts are fragmented by our screen life.
This has led to a kind of decision paralysis.
I need wallpaper. There must be thousands of choices, so why don’t I go online and look at all of them? Or I’m studying a menu: blackened tuna or chicken parm? I stare. Others are waiting for me.
My own process is a little like fishing. I cast a line, like “What should I write about this week?” and if something bites, I go with it — except for recent times, when I sometimes lose the fish, or drop the rod, or forget why I’m standing on a riverbank in my brain, trying to land an idea.
So I was on the riverbank a minute ago, planning to explore more productive decision-making techniques, when my phone beeped, and told me there was an “audacious” recipe for cucumber salad waiting for me online. Who could resist?
After saving it to my online file of never-to-be-used recipes, I came back to my task at hand: choosing a topic for this first summer column. Easy, right?
Wrong.
I am so riven by the political threats to our democracy that I believe I should use my space to resist, to support the integrity of the Constitution and to summon the help of people in power to stop the madness that is Trump. It’s my little bit. Maybe a reader or two will join me in pushing back against institutionalized cruelty unworthy of a great country.
So that’s always a compelling topic, I thought, as I was looking up the details of the new $1.8 billion fund to “deliver payouts to people who say they were harmed by the justice system,” according to The Washington Post. That would include the people charged in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Paying the perpetrators? And as part of the deal, according to The New York Times, the Trumps, senior and junior, might not ever be subject to audits, like every other United States citizen. Basically, if they were so inclined — and I’m not suggesting they would cook the books — they would never have to pay a tax bill again. No one would be looking. My friends, conservative or liberal, how is that possibly OK?
I took a lunch break last hour, and while I was chowing down on a hamburger, I got a news alert that I could be dead by the time I finished my meal due to the risks of fatty meats and overprocessed hamburger rolls. And the energy drink I was swilling could trigger a heart attack from the caffeine content alone.
Well, that could make a good topic for a column, but by the time I returned to the computer, my weather app was screaming at me to take shelter, from “tornadic” activity in the area. Turned out to be a false alarm, but it did make me lose my train of thought…
Oh, yes. Deciding on what to write about today. I can’t choose just any topic, because a gene for obsessive rumination is part of my DNA, and I must believe that I have made the perfect decision for readers, for our moment and for me.
No need to rush and tell me I missed the mark. We all know, intellectually, that perfection is the enemy of the good. The quote is frequently attributed to Voltaire, but I’ve heard many writers offer a version. It’s so apt today, as we scroll day and night, trying to decide on the best all-night car wash or strapless bra or Korean barbecue.
We can be consumed by the process or make peace with “good enough.” Good enough may keep us sane as we live through destabilizing times.
Randi can be reached at randik3@aol.com.
