I enjoyed this post. Choosing what actions to take when there isn't a clear right or wrong is really what makes being an adult interesting. I've found that it

I enjoyed this post. Choosing what actions to take when there isn't a clear right or wrong is really what makes being an adult interesting. I've found that it helps to ask if the thing that I'm avoiding is something that is reasonable for me to accomplish and something that will help me grow, such that perhaps if I encounter it again I can handle it better. If so, I should take action instead of avoiding it. In the case of the mosh pit example, staying in the pit even if you didn't want to didn't really give you any growth opportunities, unless you were really eager to "learn" how to mosh. Going to the party when you didn't want to, although possibly awkward, was such a growth opportunity. It afforded a chance to flex social skills, and the downside was likely overstated. In the future, should such a scenario arise, the author can now deal with it much more easily. I think we have deep feeling of "I didn't do what I should've" (and a sense of personal failure) when we choose to avoid action and we recognize that we've denied ourselves a growth opportunity. Our analytical brain may not pick up on it to form the thought, but I think we still know it.