Ok, maybe it was an intuitive leap
No, I made the leap to. I just didn't respond until I had some time mull it over and form a cohesive response.
What he wrote sounded very much like how I think. Weighing all options in the scrupulous insistence that what we do is not careless
This process (while not always as thorough as this example) is something we are immensely proud of and is directly linked to one of our greatest social obstacles.
When someone is joking sometimes I take them seriously. I don't mean that I get offended by what they've said so much as I apply this system of "weighing all options in the scrupulous insistence that what we do is not careless". I take an offhand remark and start to analyze its implications. Some people value this aspect of my personality. They come to me for advice because they know that I will carefully outline all their options and the pros and cons of these options for them.* They come to me because I'm an outside party that is unaffected by the outcome of their situation so I can objectively give them advice. However, I take this a step further when I apply this same logical and objective weighing process to things that do affect me personally. This is where I stumble and where social immersion comes into play.
So here's my question. When is it safe to "recklessly" forgo this process for the sake of social immersion?
When the process isn't actually that important...this is a catch 22 kind of situation. I have to determine the implications of making a decision without first going through The Process before I can decide if I should just blow it off because it's not important and do whatever *shudder* feels right. When it comes to social immersion I try to take cues from the people around me. If they don't think the situation merits a lot of thought then I will at least outwardly curtail my analysis. That doesn't mean I don't keep mulling it over in my head. I just store it up for later and outwardly go with the flow. However, there are time when I think it's very important to go through this process despite no one else thinking so. I end up doing a high speed Cliffs Notes version in my head when this happens. People say I look distant for a moment and then suddenly announce my decision. Just because our time is limited and the people hanging on our decision are impatient doesn't mean we can't go through this analysis process. We just have to be quick about it and ultimately we
are forced to make a choice. I often feel that on the really hard decisions, after all that analysis, in the end its a crap shoot. The only difference I think between my analysis and decision process and that of those who don't analyze much is that I feel personally responsible for my decision. I know I've made the best decision I possibly could because I have carefully considered all the aspects of the decision and have chosen the path/side/thing I think it right. However, it is crushing when it turns out I've made the wrong decision. Yet, I learn from the experience and add it as a component to my future analysis.
*I sometimes wonder if they aren't simply lazy for not doing this for themselves.
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