How Anxiety Affects Decision-Making and What to Do About It

19 October 2025

Making decisions is hard enough when you're just deciding what to eat for dinner. But throw anxiety into the mix, and suddenly even choosing between tacos and sushi can feel like a life-or-death situation. Why does anxiety make decision-making so difficult? And more importantly, what can you do about it? Let’s dive deep into the anxious brain and figure out why it tends to overthink every little thing.

Why Does Anxiety Mess with Our Decision-Making?

Anxiety and decision-making are like oil and water—they just don’t mix well. When you're anxious, your brain goes into overdrive, overanalyzing every possible outcome. Suddenly, a simple choice turns into a spiral of "What ifs?" and "Worst-case scenarios."

Let's break down why anxiety hijacks our ability to make decisions like rational humans.

1. Anxiety Triggers the Fight-or-Flight Response

Your brain is wired to keep you safe. When anxiety kicks in, your fight-or-flight system activates—even when there’s no real danger. Your body floods with stress hormones, making you feel jittery, restless, or even paralyzed with fear.

In this state, logical decision-making takes a backseat. Instead of calmly assessing options, your brain screams, "Danger! Danger!"—even when you’re just trying to decide between two brands of peanut butter.

2. Overthinking Everything

An anxious brain loves a good overthinking session. Instead of making a simple choice, you start running through every possible consequence:

- "What if I make the wrong choice?"
- "What if something bad happens?"
- "What if people judge me?"

Before you know it, you've spent 30 minutes debating whether to text back with "Okay" or "Sounds good" because you don’t want to come off as too eager (or worse, too indifferent).

3. Fear of Making the Wrong Choice

Anxiety often makes decisions feel final and irrevocable—like choosing the wrong Netflix show will somehow define the rest of your life. This fear of making mistakes can lead to two unfortunate outcomes:

- Indecisiveness: You keep analyzing but never commit.
- Impulsive Decisions: You make a snap choice just to get the anxiety over with.

Either way, your brain is working against you, making the process way harder than it should be.

How Anxiety Influences Different Types of Decisions

Not all decisions are created equal. Anxiety can impact different types of choices in different ways.

1. Everyday Decisions

- What to eat
- What to wear
- What to watch on TV

For most people, these are simple choices. For an anxious person? It’s a full-blown crisis. You might worry excessively about making the "right" choice, even when there’s no wrong answer.

2. Major Life Decisions

- Changing jobs
- Moving to a new city
- Ending or starting a relationship

These are high-stakes decisions, and anxiety can make them feel even heavier. You might delay making a choice for months (or years!) out of fear of regret.

3. Social Decisions

- Whether to approach someone new
- How to respond in conversations
- Whether to attend social events

Anxiety loves to make social interactions complicated. You might second-guess everything you say and do, replaying past conversations in your mind like a bad movie.

What Can You Do About It?

Now that we’ve established that anxiety is a total buzzkill when it comes to decision-making, what can you actually do about it? Here are some effective strategies to help take back control.

1. Limit Your Choices

Too many options? Your anxiety will gladly turn that into a never-ending debate. The solution? Narrow it down.

Instead of analyzing 500 types of toothpaste at the store, stick to two or three options and decide from there. The fewer choices you have, the easier the decision becomes.

2. Set a Time Limit for Decisions

If you give yourself forever to decide, anxiety will happily drag the process out indefinitely. Instead, set a deadline.

- Small choices? Give yourself 30 seconds.
- Bigger decisions? Set a clear date and stick to it.

This prevents overthinking and forces you to trust your gut.

3. Use the “5-Second Rule”

Popularized by Mel Robbins, the 5-Second Rule can help stop anxiety from taking over. If you have an instinct to act, count 5-4-3-2-1 and then take action before your brain talks you out of it.

It’s simple, but it interrupts overthinking and helps you move forward.

4. Ask Yourself, “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?”

Anxiety makes every decision feel like it could ruin your life. Chances are, it won’t.

Ask yourself:
- What’s the absolute worst outcome?
- Would I survive it?
- In a year, will this even matter?

Most of the time, the consequences aren’t as catastrophic as anxiety makes them seem.

5. Don’t Let “Perfection” Be the Enemy of Progress

We often hold off on making decisions because we want to make the “perfect” choice. Newsflash: Perfection doesn’t exist.

Instead of obsessing over making the BEST choice, focus on making a GOOD choice. Done is better than perfect.

6. Practice Confidence in Small Decisions

Treat decision-making like a muscle—the more you use it, the stronger it gets.

Start with small decisions:
- Pick a meal without overthinking.
- Choose an outfit quickly.
- Respond to texts without analyzing every word.

As you build confidence in the little things, big decisions will feel less overwhelming.

7. Accept That Uncertainty Is Part of Life

Anxiety craves certainty, but life doesn’t always provide it. The sooner you accept that you can’t predict every outcome, the easier decision-making becomes.

At some point, you just have to make a choice and trust that whatever happens, you’ll handle it.

Final Thoughts

Anxiety might love to hijack your decision-making process, but you don’t have to let it take the wheel. By setting limits, embracing imperfection, and practicing confidence, you can break free from the overthinking trap.

Is making decisions still going to be uncomfortable sometimes? Sure. But with the right mindset, you can stop letting anxiety call the shots. Now, go ahead—make a decision today without spiraling into a stress-induced breakdown. You got this!