Decision Fatigue is EXHAUSTING! Let's talk about it, shall we?
“Am I going to drink tonight?”
“Maybe I won’t.”
“Well, maybe just one.”
“I’ve had a rough day.”
“I’ll start tomorrow.”
Sound familiar?
What if the thing exhausting you isn't the decision itself? What if it's making the same decision over and over again?
In this episode of Beyond the Gray, Kari Schwear explores what happens when we get stuck negotiating with ourselves about something we already know needs to change.
And while alcohol is one of the clearest examples, this isn't just about drinking.
We do this with our health. Our marriages. Our businesses. Our boundaries. Our habits. The conversations we keep avoiding.
Sometimes we aren't actually confused about what we want. We know. We just don't want to make the decision because we know the decision means something.
Kari shares two conversations that sparked this episode, her own experience of making a decision about drinking and no longer having to revisit it every day, and why there can be tremendous freedom in finally making a decision once.
She also breaks down the difference between taking a 30- or 60-day break and using that time to genuinely explore your relationship with alcohol versus simply counting down until you can go back.
And then there's the bigger question:
What decision are you tired of making?
In this episode, you'll hear:
- Why repeatedly making the same decision can be more exhausting than the decision itself
- What decision fatigue can look like in real life
- Why high performers and busy leaders can spend so much mental energy negotiating with themselves
- How alcohol can become an automatic part of your day, until you decide you want something different
- The difference between taking a break and simply counting down until you can drink again
- Kari's personal story of making the decision to stop drinking and what changed when the decision became non-negotiable
- How the same pattern shows up in your health, marriage, business, and relationships
- Why you may be negotiating with an old version of yourself
- How the DECIDE Method can help you move from uncertainty to clarity and action
- What you might gain when you stop focusing only on what you're giving up
- The one question Kari wants you to sit with this week
Your question for this week:
What decision am I tired of making?
Write it down.
Don't solve it. Don't judge it.
Just name it.
Then ask yourself:
What would my life look like if I stopped negotiating with myself about this?
You don't have to fix your whole life today.
But there may be one decision you've been making over and over again that you're finally ready to make once.
Maybe that's where your freedom starts.
Ready to talk?
If you've named something in this episode and you're not sure what to do with it, that's exactly where coaching can help.
Take the Gray Area Audit
Connect with Kari
New episodes of Beyond the Gray drop weekly. Subscribe or follow so you don't miss the next conversation.
What is Beyond the Gray?
You’ve built something solid. A business. A reputation. A life that looks the part.
But somewhere along the way, something started feeling off.
Not broken. Not a crisis. Just… not right.
Maybe the drinking has become more of a habit than you'd like to admit.
Maybe the marriage is stable but not exactly alive.
Maybe you're still driven, but the fire feels different.
You're functioning at a high level — and wondering why that still isn't enough.
Beyond the Gray explores the gray areas of life that successful people rarely talk about — including gray area drinking, midlife identity shifts, relationships, faith, health, and purpose.
Host Kari Schwear, founder of GrayTonic, helps business owners, leaders, and high-achievers understand what’s driving their habits, reconnect with what actually matters, and lead their lives with the same intention they bring to their work.
This isn’t a sobriety podcast.
And there are no labels here.
Just clarity, honesty, and conversations most people are too busy performing to have.
While many of Kari’s clients are men over 50 navigating these transitions, the ideas explored here resonate with anyone ready to move beyond the gray.
New episodes every Tuesday.