This is a guest post by Dana Mancuso. In addition to being a mom of two and the wife of one, Dana is the Public Information Manager for the Urbana Park District. She also is a freelance writer. We always enjoy her interesting perspective on our daily lives.

I love exploring the differences between American English and British English. There are some nuances of meaning that can really make you think if you choose to.  The phrase I have been thinking about lately is related to decisions.

In the United States we say “make a decision”, while in England they “take a decision”.

Now essentially we’re saying the same thing. We’re choosing.  But think a little more and you’ll get some great advice for how to think about choosing.

Make a decision
Okay, I’m going to MAKE a decision. The word make itself implies that the decision is constructed and it is worked on. There is sweat and thought and hard work going into that decision. But on the flip side, there is the ownership of that decision. I MADE that decision. I can’t UNMAKE it. (Can I?) I can’t give up on something I constructed or thought about so long? It seems like an all or nothing proposition.

Take a decision
But if I TAKE a decision, it is one of perhaps many options available to me. I envision a library shelf and there are several volumes I could select from. I pick one and start reading. If it isn’t getting me what I need or where I need to go, I can shelve that book (or idea) and choose a new one. There is not as much entanglement with our decisions when we take them rather than make them. We can allow ourselves to put them back and try others that work better.  Maybe taking that second book off the shelf gets you even less information than you had before? But you can put that second book back, too. You never know until you take it.

Image in this post from stock.xchng