To be completely honest, everyone in this age range struggles with decision-making. I don’t think I’ve ever met a single person who’s ever told me they are a “decisive person.” Do those people even exist in our society?

Everyone’s an overthinker — that’s not inherently a bad thing — and it probably has something to do with rising anxiety rates in younger populations, with one in five adolescents experiencing anxiety. It’s natural, at least in my opinion, for people to run decisions over in their heads, over and over. We need to assess the risks and the future we’re setting ourselves up for by making this decision.

However, more often than not, we end up paralyzed by fear over something with absolutely no real risk involved, like what you’re going to eat for lunch today, where the only risk is whether you like the food. That’s probably not what our brains were meant for when we evolved the capacity for complex decisions.

I am, of course, no better than this. I’m absolutely terrible at decisions! My Dungeons and Dragons game master is well aware of my sputtering and pleads with me to wait during quick-timed events. A large part of this, though, is paralysis. Often, you’ll feel like you have too many options to make a well-informed choice. And while this might be true, trying to find the answer to “what new book should I start?” “what should I write this article about?” or “should I get Jamal’s or Chick-n-Bap for lunch?” through the full process of elimination is just not a good use of your time. How do you get unimpaired by this? I think letting fate have a hand in the deck might be a good option.

Most people are familiar with those wheels that clubs across campus table with. You go up to the table, spin it, get asked a question, win a prize and so on. However, using these as a decision-making tool is probably one of the best exercises in self-confidence I’ve managed to employ over the past two years of my life. If you don’t know what to read, which assignment to start on or where to go for dinner, put the options in a wheel. Of course, you can leave it entirely to fate and roll with the punches — perhaps you have no strong opinions on the options, in which case this is probably your best-case scenario — but the fun part is noticing what the chosen option reveals about you emotionally.

Is your first reaction relief? Annoyance? When you feel the second, your decision paralysis goes away pretty instantly. You know which option you actually favored, even if you couldn’t tell before. Suddenly, you take the reins away from fate and put the power back in your hands, able to move forward without looking back.

If you do this enough times, I’ve noticed, your confidence in your ability to make your own decisions will grow. When fate takes your choice away, you begin to realize what you actually want and what you actually believe in. Instead of being someone who needs to rely on a second opinion to move forward, you end up on the other end of the spectrum and become the second opinion! Then you can guide others in the same direction you took.

The nice thing about the wheel or the coin is that you can always go back to it. Everyone struggles with minor decisions, even with practice. Simply find fate again, and ask for her opinion. You can’t really go wrong or get tired of it — if you don’t like the answer, just choose the other option. Nothing wrong with phoning a friend with no stake in the matter, of course. We all need a little assistance sometimes, and relying on something you can always say no to without offense taken is probably the best way to get it.

All of this really is to say: Take your hands off the controls for a bit — sometimes letting the plane fly on autopilot is better than letting it stall.

Ewa Knapik is a freshman majoring in political science.

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.