I Stopped Agonizing and Started Eeny-Meeny-ing My Way Through Life's Biggest Choices — Here's the Unhinged Truth

Let me paint you a picture. It's 2 a.m. You have seventeen browser tabs open. One is a salary calculator. Another is a Reddit thread titled "Did anyone else make a huge mistake moving to Austin?" The rest are variations of the same Google search: "How do I know if I'm making the right decision."

This was me, approximately every other Tuesday, for the better part of two years.

Then someone on the Eenyakee team had the audacity to suggest I try something different. What if, instead of running every major life choice through a gauntlet of pros-and-cons lists, personality quizzes, and unsolicited advice from my aunt in Scottsdale — I just... let go? What if I approached my biggest decisions the same way a kindergartner picks who's "it" in a game of tag: fast, fair, and completely unbothered by the consequences?

What followed was three weeks of living by what we're calling Eenyakee Energy. No overthinking. No doom-scrolling for validation. Just vibes, a little rhyme, and the radical act of actually committing to a choice.

Here's what went down.

The Experiment: Real Decisions, Zero Anxiety (Allegedly)

The rules were simple. When a decision came up — big or small — I had to make it quickly, using whatever random-selection method felt right in the moment. A coin flip. Eeny meeny miny moe. Pointing at a list with my eyes closed. The spirit of the thing wasn't really about the method. It was about breaking the cycle of paralysis and trusting that my gut already knew the answer before my brain started catastrophizing.

I documented three real decisions over the course of the experiment. Two of them went surprisingly well. One of them was a disaster. We'll get to that.

Decision #1: The Job Offer I'd Been Sitting On for Two Weeks

A recruiter had reached out about a role that was, on paper, exactly what I'd said I wanted. Better pay, fully remote, interesting work. But I'd been stalling. I kept telling myself I needed more information. More time. More signs from the universe.

I had until Friday. On Thursday night, I wrote both options on scraps of paper — Take it and Stay put — folded them up, and drew one without looking.

I drew Take it.

And the second I unfolded that paper, I felt something I hadn't felt in weeks: relief. Not because the paper made the decision for me, but because my reaction to seeing that outcome told me everything I needed to know. My stomach didn't drop. I didn't immediately think wait, no, let me draw again. I just thought, yeah, okay. That tracks.

I took the job. It's been six weeks. It's going great.

The real magic of Eenyakee Energy, I'm starting to think, isn't the randomness. It's the clarity that comes from forcing yourself to commit. You stop treating every choice like a multiple-choice exam you can retake and start treating it like an adventure you're already on.

Decision #2: The Relationship Conversation I'd Been Avoiding for a Month

This one's a little more personal, so I'll keep it vague. There was a conversation I needed to have with someone I care about. It was overdue. I kept putting it off because I couldn't figure out the perfect way to bring it up, the perfect words to use, the perfect moment that would guarantee a good outcome.

Spotting the pattern yet?

I used the eeny meeny method on my calendar — pointed at random days until I landed on one and committed to having the conversation that evening. No more negotiating with myself about timing.

Here's the thing: the conversation was awkward. It wasn't perfect. There was a long pause in the middle where we both stared at the ceiling. But it happened. And afterward, we both felt better than we had in weeks.

Sometimes the decision that needs to be made isn't what to do — it's simply when to stop waiting.

Decision #3: The One Where Eenyakee Energy Absolutely Fumbled

I have to be honest with you, because that's the deal.

I used a coin flip to decide whether to skip a dentist appointment I'd already rescheduled twice. The coin said skip it. I skipped it. Reader, I had a cavity that had apparently been waiting patiently for me to stop messing around.

The chaos energy giveth, and it taketh away.

In my defense — and I am fully aware this is a weak defense — the experiment was never really designed for logistical adulting. It was designed for the decisions where anxiety, not logic, is the thing standing in your way. Skipping a dentist appointment is not a values-based crossroads moment. It is just a thing you should do. I knew that. I used the coin flip as an excuse, and the universe responded accordingly.

Lesson learned: Eenyakee Energy is a tool, not a lifestyle replacement for basic self-care.

So Does Living Like You Don't Care Actually Work?

Kind of? Here's my honest take after three weeks of this experiment.

Overthinking is expensive. It costs time, sleep, and the kind of low-grade mental exhaustion that makes you feel like you've run a marathon when all you did was sit on your couch refreshing Reddit. For decisions that are fundamentally about fear — fear of change, fear of conflict, fear of being wrong — forcing a quick commitment through randomness can genuinely break the logjam. It short-circuits the anxiety loop and drops you into action mode before your brain can spiral.

But it's not a blank check. Decisions that require real information, real planning, or real self-care don't get better by rushing them. Eenyakee Energy is the antidote to overthinking, not to thinking.

The sweet spot? Use it when you already know what you want but you're scared to admit it. Use it when you've been sitting on something so long that any decision is better than no decision. Use it when you need permission to stop being precious about the process and just move.

The Takeaway (Or: Your Gut Called, It Wants Its Power Back)

If you've made it this far, there's probably a decision you've been putting off. Maybe it's big. Maybe it's medium. Maybe it's just finally texting someone back after leaving them on read for four days because you didn't know what to say.

Here's what three weeks of chaotic decision-making taught me: most of the time, you already know. You knew before you opened the seventeenth tab. You knew before you asked three friends and a stranger on Reddit. You knew before you wrote the pros-and-cons list that somehow always ends in a tie.

Sometimes all you need is a little eeny meeny to get out of your own way.

And sometimes you need to just book the dentist appointment. That part is non-negotiable.