Turns out that making decisions, no matter how small, is brain-taxing. This explaind why when I have a really rough cognitive day at work I physically burn out about 15 minutes into my martial arts. (I’ve learned to grab a snickers bar at 4pm on those days.) I’ve run into this same problem when I tried to play a game like Brain Age right after work, too. I can actually feel my brain avoiding simple addition because it’s too hard.

I think it also explains why when little kids (or puppies) are tired, asking them to choose things is also asking for big trouble. When you’re little, everything’s a decision – is this edible? should I follow Mom? Should I stay here? Do I want that? No wonder Chance sleeps so much.

Ironically, I came across this (removed) link while cleaning out my email after a week’s vacation. Every single message is a tiny decision on whether I have to act on it and when. It’s no wonder I’m grouchy and hungry and it’s not even 12:00 even though I had a huge breakfast. They mention lemonade in the article and I’m salivating at the thought of lemony sugar. Email is just too many decisions. Of course, the problem is how to get rid of them!