Why making the decision to have children or not really is tiring for our brain

'Why is making a determination so taxing? Evidence implicates two important components: commitment and tradeoff resolution. The first is predicated on the notion that committing to a given course requires switching from a state of deliberation to one of implementation. In other words, you have to make a transition from thinking about options to actually following through on a decision. ' - From the Article 'Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain.

A common reason women (and sometimes men) approach me for coaching is that the often say they are feeling tired and exhausted by constantly exploring and considering the options in making the decision.

Making decisions has been proven to be a tiring process.  The article in Scientific American,  Tough Choices: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain explores this and looks at what might be happening when we are struggling to make a decision

It appears that once we have committed to a decision, there is a sense of acceptance, and, as the article points out, we move from considering the options and the trade-offs to actually implementing the decision.

Another point the article make is that unrelated activities have an impact on our decision making process.  It is good to make decisions when we have more energy and are in a more energetic mind-set.  This chimes with the coaching approach I use where I am often using a number of different techniques to enable clients to have more energy when they are making the decision.

At the end of the coaching process, I find clients often express relief that they can move forward.  Even when the decision isn't ideal, there is a sense of acceptance of the trade-off that has to be made in making the decision and a feeling of purpose, of knowing which direction they are headed.