Decisions
According to google, the average person makes 35,000 decisions per day. These can be little decisions or big decisions or anything in between. Decisions can be extra overwhelming for Aspies. Our brains get tired from too many decisions, so it helps when we can make one decision that eliminates the need for a future decision or multiple future decisions. You may have noticed that certain people in your life like to eat the same thing for the same meal every day. This isn't always because they are a picky eater or because they are on a tight budget. It could be because having the same thing every day eliminates the need to decide what to eat for that meal every day. Daily routines also help eliminate certain decisions because we just follow the routine and don't have to decide what to do next because that decision has already been made in advance. Recently there have been decisions and tasks that I have been putting off, not because of finances, but because of brain processing power. The money to do these things is there, but the brain power has been lacking.
A few years ago, a couple of family members took me to a restaurant that they liked. It was a pizza shop, but it was similar to subway, in that you could choose from about 100 different options of what to put on your pizza. Some people really like it, especially if you have food allergies and need to avoid certain ingredients, or if you are adventurous and know what you want to try out. Having all of those options was too much for my brain. It was much easier to look at a short list of prearranged options and pick from one of those, rather than try to assemble a pizza from a list of 100 possible ingredients. I am not very adventurous when I go out to restaurants, mostly because the decision making is hard for me. I like to stick to something that I know I will like, rather than try to decide if I want to try something different. Looking at a large menu can be daunting because there is so much information for my brain to try and process in a short amount of time, especially when it is also a social situation with other people there. Sometimes it is easier to look over the menu online beforehand and pick my options before even arriving at the restaurant. That way the decision is made when my stress levels are low and no one is around me.
For years I had the method of having food at work to eat for lunch and there were usually a couple of options available, and those options can stay the same for months at a time. It just makes my lunch time decision easier for me. I use a similar method at home, though my number of options is a bit larger, but not by much.
When I am at home relaxing and destressing from a long day, watching TV is helpful to get my brain distracted and help it to relax. But, in order to do that there is the decision of what to watch. Sometimes deciding can be a major mental task because there are so many options to choose from. Lately my brain has been extra tired, so I found a way to make that decision a bit easier on myself. I decided that at least for now I am going to watch reruns of a show, in order. Episodes that I have likely seen before, but not in the last couple of years. The series that I chose first is NCIS, since there are currently 20 seasons, so it will be a while before I catch up. This makes it easier in the evenings when I sit down on the couch to relax. I don't have to decide what to watch, I just go to the next episode in line. I can change my plan at any point and I might change my plan when my brain is more fully recovered, but this plan may get used a lot in the future because it makes my evenings so much more relaxing.
Sometimes it helps to have a trusted friend assist with some decisions. There have been times when I was with friends and either I hadn't planned far enough ahead for a specific decision or by the time it came to make a decision, like what to eat, my brain had been so overwhelmed by recent events that I couldn't mentally process the decision. Thankfully, I have at least one friend who understands what I am struggling with, and they are willing to help me make a decision when needed and they are very kind about it. It is often easier to follow a trusted friend than to try and make the decision on my own. When I am mentally struggling and can't make a lot of decisions but know that I need to get out and do something, it is nice to have a friend that understands and will let me hang out with them and tag along on their errands. It gives us time to have long talks, which helps me be able to process my thoughts better, and they make most of the decisions, I am just along for the company.
Things like this are how I, and others like me, make the process of decision making easier on our brains.