This past weekend I competed in the University Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championships, and to say the weekend went well vastly understates the gravity of the meet's individual and team results. A school record here, a personal record there, nearly everyone competing in this meet propelled themselves to new heights, myself included. As many of you may know, I am also a member of the football team here at Case, which leaves me in season year-round.

So, what does any of this have to do with anything?

Several hours following the meet, after the adrenaline rush settled, I began thinking. I began thinking about what life at school would be like if I were to focus everything into either of my two sports individually rather than put my time into both. Where football has always been a life passion of mine, track presents me with a different sort of fulfillment.

I bring this up to write about making decisions in a more general sense. Life presents us with simple decisions every day, yet most of these decisions really have no bearing on our lives as a whole.

Returning to my thoughts about football versus track, a decision to eliminate one of those two entities from my life in college would alter my experience dramatically. I haven't put much thought into it, but that situation brought me to think about making decisions as a whole.

Imagine yourself at a crossroads where you're very unsure of something and you need to decide whether or not to continue that thing. I firmly believe in getting out of something what is put into something. Whether that be a sport, relationship, class, anything, the effort put into these aspects of life directly correlates to what you receive in return. So, if you find that you are putting forth much more effort into something than you are receiving in return for it, here are a couple of things I recommend:

Take a step back from it and be introspective.

This will allow you to level your head and be able to look at the situation with a less biased viewpoint toward either side of the decision

Critically think about your physical reality of deciding for one, then the other

If you don't do this, you may find yourself making an uninformed decision which you'll regret later on

Because if you can't emotionally agree with the decision, there's a good chance it's a bad one.

Hopefully next time you need to make a decision, you'll remember these points and be able to decide with greater confidence.

Happy deciding!