Why is it SO difficult to make hard choices?
On surprise news, writing what you know, and new online adventure
Hi friends & new subscribers,
There's some news I've been keeping from you.
At the beginning of this month, I officially handed my resignation letter as an Emergency nurse. I've planned this “quitting my job” for a whole year, and lately, the desire to leave intensified.
So I went ahead and decided to take a break from nursing for now.
It was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make, and so this week, I'd like to talk about this topic: why is it so difficult to make hard choices.
😩 Why is it so difficult to make hard choices?
Have you ever looked back on your Google search history?
My most recent search history looks something like this:
"How to quit your nursing job?"
"Should I quit my nursing job?"
"How to make hard decisions?"
The last question led me to a TED Talk on YouTube by Ruth Chang, and it was the best resource that resonated with me in this whole process.
She talked about why it's so difficult to make a hard decision, and it's mainly for this reason:
You're comparing options where neither is better than the other.
If I were to decide between staying at my nursing job or working at a grocery store, then a nursing job would be a far better option from a pay perspective.
I agonized over the whole process because I had to choose between staying at a nursing job that I didn't like while becoming a creator OR going all-in in my freelance journey while becoming a creator.
Both of them were good options, which is what made it difficult.
I was beating myself up for being unable to make a decision. But when you’re presented with two good choices, you need to realize that it's an opportunity rather than a stressor.
In the end, you get to pick the option to live with. Of course, each decision will have its own costs and benefits, but that's also the beauty of life.
You get to pick your adventure.
And if you make the "wrong" choice, know that you can always change your mind later.
🧚 3 Fairy Tips for Multipassionate Creators
Write what you know [on writing]. I have a confession. I don't find writing hard at all. I find editing, repurposing or learning about SEO hard. But writing comes easy for me because I only write what I know. It's easy to write your personal stories and still make them about the reader.
Work with brands that target you as a consumer [on freelancing]. I learned s life-changing magic tip about working with clients. As a freelancer, you want to work with brands where you are the target audience. I pitched to Ship 30 for 30, Gumroad and Slow Growth as a new freelancer. But being a new freelancer didn't matter because I was their consumer. So when I pitched ideas, I knew exactly what they would be looking for because I just had to ask myself, "well, what content would I wanna read?"
Follow the fun [on life]. Now that I have plenty of time since I don't have a stable nursing job, it's been difficult to structure my day. Before, I used my nursing schedule as my deadline, but now, I learned to do client work in the morning, while the rest of the day is filled with, "what would be fun to do right now?". And believe it or not, I've been more productive with this strategy.
🎥 New Online Adventure: YouTube Journey
Speaking of fun, remember in my last newsletter when I mentioned that I filmed a YouTube video? Well, last week, I uploaded my first video since January this year.
(I think 2022 will be the year I'll become consistent on YouTube, but the next couple of months will be becoming familiar with the whole process, so I may or may not upload one video a week, we'll see 🤞🤞 ).
This video is about my quitting my job. It's so cliché, I know, but it's honestly been my dream to make this kind of video, so I thought it was only fitting.
Hope you watch it, and you subscribe and you let me know what you think. <3
🤔 A question for you this week:
If you're going through difficult decision-making, ask yourself,
How can I make this decision easy for myself?
Photo by Jackson David from Pexels
I appreciate you 💌 ,
Jerine
P.S. Please let me know what you’d like to see from this newsletter. Send me your questions, comments and concerns by replying to this email.