UNITED STATES—Life is full of tough choices, but when most of us are faced with that dilemma, it sometimes leaves us scratching our heads on rather the choice we make or the choice we made is the right choice or not. Those choices revolve around family, work, school, relationships, housing, children, and so many other things.

So when it comes to making the big choice what goes through the mind? Well of course we tend to consider the negative drawbacks of any decision we make. For example, the lease on your apartment is up and the decision has to be made rather to renew that lease or choose a new place to live. Things to consider: price! Is the apartment where you currently live cheaper compared to if you moved to a new location? What about utilities? At your new apartment are those utilities included in the rent or as a tenant are you responsible for them?

Then you have to consider the pros of a move: better environment, better prices, cheaper utilities, more flexible lease. The good and the bad have to always be considered when making choices that can impact one’s life in significant factions.

The same can be echoed about choosing to quit a job. I think this is something so many Americans rarely think about. If you quit a job that you hate, you might feel a ton of stress released off your psyche and body. However, you run into a situation where you may not have another job waiting for you.

That means finances become tangled, you may end up at a job worse than the one you previously had, it could be seasonal, you might have the boss from hell or co-workers whose presence you can’t stand. Think before you react, your gut might tell you one thing, but it becomes clear when you analyze all the outcomes to have a back-up plan before you actually pull the trigger on that job that boils your blood.

Education, think about it: higher education or not. College is not destined for everyone, but at the same time, college DOES NOT GUARANTEE a high paying position. You have to think about the debt that may be accumulated while obtaining that bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or doctoral degree. More and more college students nowadays are leaving college in so much debt it takes than decades to successfully pay it off.

Where you go to school matters too! I’ve seen people make the decision to swap from a university to a community college and then never go back to school. Some go from community college to university and hate it. What’s worse, deciding to go to school significantly farther from home then you expected, only to realize it’s not as easy to get home! Yeah, it’s a drawback not many consider.

I can go on for hours about the various pros and cons of a multitude of choices, however, the key of this column is to highlight the importance of carefully thinking about the pros and cons of a decision before making it. Making a choice on impulse is not always a good idea. While you might get a burst of adrenaline from reacting on your impulse, in the long run making a bad choice could haunt you for days, weeks, months, years and in some cases decades to come.