Options are strange things.

Back when I was graduating from college, when I suddenly realized I was graduating that semester, there was a little bit of panic about what I was going to do after. So I sent out a few copies of my resume, went to a couple career fairs, and before I graduated only one place offered me an interview and subsequently, an offer. The choice was fairly simple: take the offer and go travel for 2 months, or turn down the offer and figure out something else. Not having much savings the decision was relatively simple to make.

Fast forward more than 6 years, I was having the urge to leave and join a startup. Since I have a tendency to be lazy and stay comfortable, I wanted to make a decision quickly while I still felt the rush. Plus taking days off to interview was getting tiring. In the end I took an offer out of two from the three places I interviewed at. It was not a difficult choice either: one place was doing something I can easily relate to and has an proven business model. It doesn't hurt that the offer was also superior in just about every way, at least on paper.

As the offers started to roll in, I am having to choose between different options again. The difference is that this time around none of the options is significantly better than the others. The difference is this time around I have a new option that I never (thought I) had: the option to not make a decision. Which makes everything so much harder, because of the vast number of (theoretical) future options. Of course, choosing "none of the above" is difficult, because it feels so irresponsible.