Level Three. Decisions.

Level Three. Decisions.

By Michelle Lloyd.

Asking anything for Little Herbert was not a problem, he was adept at it and could ask along with the best of the best. However when it came to deciding what to do about it, that was when the troubles could start.

Assertive and happy about it, Little Herbert found that in life most situations required a few decisions here or there. He was fine about this theory and even absolutely brilliant at getting it all started off… if a question needed asking about what to do, then in he would go and off he would get into a preparational mode. However, if the situation then had to be decided on further, as in how to best go about it, that could be a might trickier for him.

Little Herbert’s issue with it all was the problem of pleasing everybody. He did not want to let anybody down and when it came down to it, he would far rather put his own happiness behind that of others he loved.

It was easy to get himself drawn into a situation which required questions and thought, but far harder to then decide on the finer details. Each time Little Herbert found himself putting himself behind others when choosing on what was best, he even resorted to letting his friend dog Lana make away with the ball in their game instead of deciding to get in there and score the winning goal. At that time Little Herbert had been aware of his other friend’s desire to be the first to score a goal in the game and then he took so long to decide on whether he should take action or not, that Lana ran in off the sidelines and made a decision all of her own.

It was tough to be undecided about decisions. Little Herbert found it a lonely path to tread and when nobody else even noticed him lagging back in the decision stakes, that made it even more disheartening.

In the end it took a rather startling turn of events to shock Little Herbert into drastic measures. It was as he found himself at school one day, his friend became passionate about a trip that they were all going to take to see a film of their choosing. Usually the latest action superhero flick was the all out winner but on this occasion there had been two equally good films vying for first position. Little Herbert’s friend wanted his opinion on which they should go and see and that was where the problem started.

Little Herbert ummed and ahheed about the qualities of each film with his friend, they talked at length about the merits of both and then when it came to the crux of it, the decision time… he evaded it and excused himself from the discussion entirely.

Almost having broken out in a cold sweat because of it, the decision making had not become any easier and Little Herbert found himself actively trying to avoid his friend’s enquiring gaze. He knew what he wanted from him. A decision.

After a string of increasingly odd and ridiculously seeming excuses and hesitations, Little Herbert started to see the look of confusion and even hurt cross his friend’s face. This was the time when he knew that his indecision far from helping put his loved ones first, was actually harming his relationship with them.

Something had to be done about it and Little Herbert had to bite the bullet, get in there and get on with it. Having approached his friend, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes in anticipation for what he thought was going to be a most horrendous experience. Choosing one of the films at random, without any real conviction he blurted out his choice. After a few minutes of dreadful silence, his friend followed this up with three almost unbearable words of, was he sure?

It was another decision and Little Herbert had been in enough trouble with the first, but to appease the situation he thought about it and nodded. The beaming smile that came from his friend was enough to boost Little Herbert’s insecurity about it all and the subsequent trip to see the actual film that he had decided on, that was enough to convince him that maybe making a decision was not too bad. It meant that his participation in the decision making won him his own sense of independence, it gained a lot of praise from everybody who had gone with them to see the film in question and he found that putting his own ideas first could please his loved ones in a way that he had not thought of before.