It's Complicated

Funny how that became a tag line for tricky relationships.

They even made a movie about more tricky relationships than should exist in real life (though they do).

In today's case, however, I would say that all kinds of things can turn unexpectedly complicated.

I created a blog about making decisions when I had a challenging decision to make and that task prompted me to think about making decisions in general. What we choose, how we choose, the way choices impact every minute of every day.

But you kinda figure that once you've made your decision - whether it's for the chocolate ice cream or the summer in France or what to do with the rest of your life - you can tootle on your merry way, carrying it out (tasting the cold, stumbling through French, and all the little pieces that come together to make the rest of your life).

Ever hear of a red herring? A red herring might throw a dog off his scent. I'm thinking that sometimes, the decision that you made...that you finalized...that you closed in your brain and proceeded to begin carrying out...that too can be a red herring. Because you THINK you know where you're going. And then your path veers or new traffic startles you, and then you have to revisit what you knew you'd known.

It's complicated.

It's particularly complicated because re-deciding choices you've already chosen just feels wrong. Why exert all that excellent agonizing effort if the measures you take send you back to the beginning, regardless.

It's particularly complicated if you swerve because of new encounter. New information, new opportunities, new distractions. That which had been clean and clear in your hands no longer is. Well, you can always ignore new information, new opportunities, new distractions. But can you really? Is it the better part of wisdom to stick with your plan just because you've made it?

Maybe it's more complicated than it should be, but that doesn't make the complications dissolve into thin air.

Going back to the drawing board isn't the same as beginning again. You've come this far, and relinquishing your choices isn't easily done. Not if you've chosen carefully, anyway.

Now what?