Journaling Prompts for Decision-Making Paralysis
Decision paralysis has a particular quality—the more important the decision, the more impossible it becomes to make. You research endlessly, ask for opinions, weigh every option, and somehow end up more uncertain than when you started. Often what looks like indecision is actually something else: a fear of regret, a need for certainty that doesn't exist, a conflict between what you want and what you think you should want. Writing can help you separate those layers. It can help you figure out what you actually think, underneath all the noise of other people's opinions and your own anxiety.
Journaling Prompts
Write out the decision you're stuck on and every option you're considering. Now set aside what you think you should choose and ask: what do you actually want? If your gut has been speaking, what has it said?
What is the absolute worst realistic outcome of each option? Write them out plainly. Now ask: which worst-case scenario could you live with more easily? Sometimes that's your answer.
Whose opinion are you most afraid of getting wrong in the eyes of? How much is that person's judgment actually shaping this decision—and should it be?
What information would you need to feel confident making this decision? Is that information actually available, or are you waiting for a certainty that doesn't exist? What would it mean to decide without it?
If you imagine yourself five years from now, looking back at this decision—not knowing the outcome, just knowing the version of yourself who made it—what choice would that future self want to have seen you make?