Often, we can find ourselves in a situation where there is no "good" choice and we are left staring at two "bad" choices wondering how to pick one. The decisions become harder to make when we look at the negative consequences of each choice, or may have many choices that further confuse and confound our selection process. Sometimes, we must deal with the hand we've been dealt by others. Sometimes, we are left with the consequences of our own bad decisions.
When my clients present all the choices they are facing and ruminate and regurgitate their options over and over again, I offer them a simple Pro versus Con (for and against) solution. I tell them to write down all the benefits of one choice and then list all the negative consequences that might result of making that choice. I tell them to do the same for each of the options until they have a clearly defined understanding of what the options truly are. Once they have those options clearly defined, they eliminate the option that has the "worst case scenarios."
When you remove the options with the most consequences, often you are left with two choices that have similar negative effects.
I then say, "Which one will give you the most regret?" When they can identify that, the remaining choice is simple to make, albeit not easy.
Choose which hard you want to have for your life:
Struggling towards something worthy of your time, energy, and effort,
or just struggling.