In responses to my classmates, discuss pros and cons of outside influences in decision-making and how it effects the stages of decision making (Chapter 7, pg. 205).
Susan K
Unit 5: Outside Influences
COLLAPSE
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The hardest experience I have gone through where outside factors were important to consider when making decisions were the last two years of my mother’s life.
Most of my siblings lived out of state or hours away, so the decisions on mom’s day-to-day care fell to me. However, there were some decisions that needed to be made that I was not comfortable making on my own so I would put the problem to the family and asked for some input. We would do video calls and discuss the issue and then come up with a solution. It was immensely helpful to me not only for resolving the problem but also helped me to not feel isolated and alone.
It wasn’t until my mother had pasted that things became more complicated with the family. Mom had requested to be cremated and there were a few of my siblings that didn’t like that idea. Ultimately I made the final decision to follow mom’s request regardless of my siblings.
There are many advantages to outside influences as long as you remember that you have the final decision and that you stay flexible to meet the challenges those influences bring.