When a Quick Relief - Regret Analysis Saved the Day

"Do you really want to do that? Now?"

I groaned. No. No I didn't. It was cold and dark outside. I was tired. The kids were asking to be cuddled to sleep. No, I didn't want to. But what if...

I groaned again.

"Let me do a quick relief-regret analysis," I replied.

It was after dinner, and we were shepherding kids through bedtime routines. My husband mentioned that the hot water pressure seemed low in the kitchen. Probably sediment buildup again in our 100+ year-old-house's old, old pipes. He mentioned the hot water pressure was low in the bathroom, too.

I was standing in the other bathroom, listening intently. I thought I heard something that sounded like rushing water somewhere. He didn't hear anything. He asked if I wanted to investigate.

To be honest, no, I didn't want to. I didn't want to have to put on warm clothes and a headlamp to see if I could track down the noise.

But, just because that was my gut reaction, didn't mean it was the right decision. I decided to give myself a minute to run through a quick relief-regret analysis.

In what version of the future would I be relieved I chose not to investigate? A future where it's nothing, and I didn't have to waste any time getting to bed.

In what version of the future would I regret choosing not to investigate? A future where it is actually something, and now that something is a whole lot worse because I waited 10 hours to investigate.

In what version of the future would I be relieved I chose to go and investigate? One where there was actually a problem and I was glad I could address it before it got any worse.

In what version of the future would I regret choosing to go investigate? Regret is a strong word. Going to investigate would have been an inconvenience, but not so bad an outcome that I would have wished I went with the other option.

After the analysis, my choice was clear. Even though I didn't initially feel like it, it made the most sense to go investigate.
And here's what I found:

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I'm so glad I took the time to arrive at my decision.

To be clear, what made it the "right" decision is not because I got the "right" outcome. Even if the water heater wasn't broken and my investigation turned up nothing, it was the right decision.

Why?

Because I took the time to make an intentional decision rather than succumb to a gut reaction. I'm not saying that gut reactions are bad, but you are more likely to make good decisions when you know how to use both gut and head (and heart, for that matter).

I fleshed out the possibilities in an uncertain situation and discerned which set of possibilities I was more willing to step into.