I need to make a hard decision. There are only two possible choices: do or do not do. One is hard (do) and the other is easy (do not do).
The hard choice is the correct one, the easy choice is not. The hard choice is short term painful and long term uncertain in its result. The easy choice just feels like malaise, like kicking the can down the road, like avoiding the inevitable.
It is impossible to predict what will happen in the future because of so many variables. Life in general adds so many different possibilities that I can’t adequately predict outcomes.
The “do” choice has a visible, concrete short term (and perhaps permanent) negative consequence that I fear. It has invisible consequences (what other people think about me) that I fear. It means short-term stress because one of the load-bearing walls has been removed from the building, metaphorically speaking.
Long term the “do” choice opens up time in which other long-term opportunities (possibly higher value) can be pursued because this lower-value activity has been eliminated.
Today I am going to email someone to get a fact. And call another person to get a different fact—someone who didn’t answer my email yet.
I have a week to make the decision. I favor the hard choice.