Highly Sensitive People (HSP) and Decision Fatigue
I’m writing this during the last days of November, having just come home from the supermarket.
Things aren’t quite as Christmassyfied (I’ve just made this a word) in Spain as they are in other places, but still there were shelves of items specifically geared towards the ‘festive’ season.
Everywhere around, people were standing gazing at the shelves with quizzical looks on their faces. They picked up an item, looked at it, then put it down. They picked up another. And put it down. Sometimes they wandered off with nothing, other times they ended up with one of each. There was a haunted look in their eyes as they trundled away.
There’s a term for this; Decision Fatigue.
What is Decision Fatigue?
Decision Fatigue is quite simply when your brain has had enough of making decisions and shuts down from the overwhelm.
Every day we are faced with hundreds of tiny decisions;
What time shall I get up?
What shall I have for breakfast?
Which mug shall I have my coffee in?
What shall I wear today?
These shoes or those?
What shall I listen to on the way to work?...
That’s at least half a dozen decisions and the day has barely started. Imagine how many decisions we are required to make by the end of the day!
This phenomenon has had quite a lot of attention in psychology in recent years, and has brought forth associated ideas such as Decision Avoidance, Analysis Paralysis and what role willpower really plays in decision making.
For HSPs, knowing that Decision Fatigue exists can be particularly important. (Not sure if you’re Highly Sensitive? Read this first!) Because Highly Sensitive People are already dealing with large amounts of sensory input, expecting frequent, high-quality decision making is likely to push us into overwhelm.
How Can We Reduce Decision Fatigue?
The simple answer is to reduce the number of decisions we make in a day, so that we have sufficient energy to manage the decisions we MUST make.
Sounds easy! But what might that look like?...
Follow in the footsteps of The Minimalists, and choose two or three outfits that you wear all the time. You can have multiple versions e.g. 4 black tee-shirts, all the same, but you no longer have to think about what goes with what, whether you have the right shoes/accessories, etc.
Something as simple as only buying the same brand and colour of socks can help; you know that when you reach in the sock drawer and pull out two socks, they’ll match!
Choose a basic menu and stick to it; that makes your shopping more efficient (you buy the same things each week), and you know what you will be eating and when.
Have a time to wake up (even at weekends; this is also helpful for regulating sleep patterns) and a time to sleep.
These are all pracical, physical steps, which can help with our everyday lives, and there are a million more in your own unique situation, so the first step might be to become aware of all the decisions you are currently making in a day, and see whether any of those situations can be simplified or the choices reduced.
There are some other reasons why reducing our decision-making can be not just important, but essential.
The Dark Side of Decision Making
Various research shows that as we become fatigued with all the decisions we have to make during a day, we begin to lose our ability to control our impulses. Things that we might be able to restrain ourselves from in the morning, when well-rested and ready to start the day, become much harder to resist when we’re exhausted in the evening. Some examples of this might be;
If you enjoy sweets, chocolate and/or alcohol, think about when you’re most likely to reach for them;
Check your last few online shopping purchases, and then think about what sort of day you’d had before making them;
If you ever have conflicts in your relationships, are they more likely to happen at a certain time of day?
Obviously, there could be a wide variety of reasons for these sorts of situations, but even if Decision Fatigue plays only a small part, it’s worth being aware of, so that you are able to make adjustments if that feels possible.
Choices are everywhere; that’s the reason we need to make decisions in the first place! By reducing our choices, we reduce our need to decide on a constant basis, so we have enough energy to make the decisions we want or have to make.
If you have a feeling that Decision Fatigue might be a factor in your life, and you are struggling to implement helpful ways forward on your own, therapy might help you to explore why that is, and support you in making changes.
Please WhatsApp message Helen on +34 654065721 or email helen@lazuli.es if you are interested in starting therapy with me.