I’ll take the red one

Posted on by WritingfromtheheartwithBrian

I’ve had a cold and cough for the past week and a half. I thought it would be short-lived, but it’s been lingering. Every time I think it’s gone, it comes storming back stronger than before. I was taking a few things to control it, but nothing was working. I finally went to the drugstore to try to tackle some of the symptoms. (I knew it wasn’t Covid. I took an at-home test and it was negative.)

Of course, the store had a million different options. One helped reduce coughs, another dealt with the aches and pains. Did I need a decongestant to reduce nasal congestion? Or did I need an antihistamine to relieve my runny nose and sneezing? Or did I need an expectorant to help loosen up the fluid in my chest. Oh brother.

My head spun reading the back of the different medicines. They lined three different aisles and seemed alike and different all at the same time. I was more confused than when I went into the store. In many ways, I found the decision on which medicine to choose to be microcosm of how we make decisions. If I stayed there long enough, reading the back of the packages, I was pretty sure I’d come out with either pneumonia or in need of a new lung.

“Life is filled with difficult decisions, and winners are those who make them.” —Dan Brown

Send in the Calvary!

In my hour of need, I considered calling in reinforcements. Yes, I considered giving my wife a call, but that would have been waving the white flag and admitting defeat. My wife would’ve poked fun of me. She’d joke about “my man-flu” getting me down. She’d wipe away fake tears from her eyes and bring up my certain ruin. When she had her fill of jokes, she’d chide me for waiting so long and would tell me to leave the drugstore and walk across the street to the Urgent Care.

Nope, nope, I didn’t want to go there. I would remind her that I have nothing against doctors, but the last time I went to Urgent Care, the doctor barely saw me. She took one look at me and told me what I already knew that I had fluid building up, that it was getting caught in my chest, and forcing an annoying cough.

I considered calling my mother. Yes, good old mom. She’d come to the rescue. She’d have a soft spot for her baby, right? She’d take my call. She would definitely be a sympathetic ear, but she would also have me on my death bed if I didn’t watch it.

I didn’t like either of the two options.

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“When faced with a decision, choose the path that feeds your soul.” —Dorothy Mendoza Row

Help is on the way

Finally I decided I would call in the big guns. I’d ask one of the pharmacists at the store. Go the source I told myself. I got up the urge to ask one. The drugstore was busy and there was a long line. However, I finally got one of the attendant’s attention. She came over, and I asked her what she thought. I put up the two medicines I was thinking of getting: “The red one or the blue one?”

Of course, as my luck would have it, she joked that she liked the red one, but she didn’t know anything more than me. She offered to get the pharmacist, but it would be a few minutes. I told her to forget about it.

Yup, when all else fails, it’s good to go with your gut, right? Maybe?

“Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” —John C. Maxwell

Decision time

I went back to the aisle and looked over my choices. In my mind, I sing-sang the kiddie song, “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.”

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe,
Catch a tiger by the toe.
If he hollers, let him go, 
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

I thought to myself: Gosh, darn-it, I’m an adult. I make bigger decisions than this every day. I thought about some of the business decisions that I’ve made recently that represented hundreds of thousands of dollars.

I played the two medicines against each other and decided that I was going to go with the red one. In my mind, I got the image of the daytime TV game show Family Feud with host Steve Harvey and my imaginary teammates, clapping and patting me on the back. “Good answer, Brian. Good answer, Brian.” 

Yes, yes, the choice of cold medicine speaks to the hundreds of decisions — both big and small — that we make each day. These decisions impact our lives in hundreds of ways. Without the ability of having 20-20 hind sight, we try to analyze our options. We look both ways at the pros and cons. We weigh them and then we make the best decision we can at the moment.

Most times, we move on to fight another day. Sometimes our decisions weigh on us. Sometimes they have long-term ramifications. In the end, we need to pick ourselves up and move on.

Of course, just to be safe, I got the blue box too. You can never be too cautious.

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“You can’t make someone else’s choices. You shouldn’t let someone else make yours.” —Colin Powell

…….

Check out my blog at www.writingfromtheheartwithbrian.com. I have a companion piece today, What’s it going to be?, where I dive deeper into my decision-making skills. Be sure to follow me on Instagram at @writingfromtheheartwithbrian. 

Thanks for reading.

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29 thoughts on “I’ll take the red one”

  1. Pingback: What’s it going to be? – Writing from the Heart with Brian

    1. I’m not sure you want to follow my advice Melanie. Ha, ha. Dr. Brian tends to miss more calls than he gets right. Ha, ha, I’m glad the piece was relatable. I’m fascinated with our decision process especially on things like medicines. I always feel like I’m shooting in the dark. I hope it’s better for others!! Please get some rest and take care of yourself. Hope your throat feels better.

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      1. Ha! My husband always calls himself “Dr. Dennie” and with no degree required! 😂 I liked it because you chose to cover your bases with both. That is wise. Thanks Brian, I’ll feel better soon.

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  4. I love this great discourse on the decision making process, Brian! Doesn’t it sometimes seem like which we choose doesn’t really matter — just that we get ourselves through the process? And kudos for you doing it while under the weather. Those are the tough ones! Hope you are feeling better!

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    1. Oh thank you Wynne. I’m slowly getting back to normal. And yes, I have no idea which worked better — the red one or blue one. Ha, ha. The decisionmaking process is a funny one. Was it the red one that worked . . . or forcing myself to go to the store and forcing myself to get better that made me well. Ha, ha, who knows??

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  5. You made a decision-that’s what’s important. I’ve been there and done that many times for every reason under the sun. That’s why I dress like a pauper with only a few pairs of shoes! 🙂

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  7. I haven’t thought of the Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, saying in years YET it’s about as good of a way to make a decision as any. Hope you’re feeling better now. Has that been decided?

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  9. It’s funny how some decisions we pour over and others we make snap judgments. When it comes to big ones like what college to attend, what house to buy, or what career to choose, the way I’m wired is to do a ton of research. Even if my choice turns out not to be a good one, I won’t beat myself up later. I am hard on myself If I feel I didn’t study an important issue closely before making an informed decision.

    Hope the red one does the trick and you feel better soon. Good job on the Steve Harvey reference. 😊

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  11. oh, I’ve been there, facing that wall of cures, and you just have to go for it, most have a bit of this and a dash of that and we’ll have that cold for 10 days no matter what but feel better in one area or another if we pick this or that, but glad you chose both!

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  12. After suffering through two colds myself this year, I share your pain when it comes to knowing how to treat them. (I also share a spouse with a similar affinity for teasing me over my “man cold”). Hope you’re better soon!

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  13. I’m with you- get them both! Although, for some reason, I tend not to take that stuff until I really feel like I’m on my deathbed- so I probably would’ve bought both and taken neither until I needed something stronger than either one of them 😁🤦🏼‍♂️
    sometimes when my complaining about being sick has gotten on my wife’s nerves for too long- she’ll just pour me some and say “take this before I kill you.” 😱😁

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