I’m a decisive person. I don’t typically struggle to make a decision. I wouldn’t say I make knee-jerk decisions, but I think about what’s most important to me and I go with it. Sometimes things don’t work out or someone might question why I did what I did, especially if given new information five minutes later or whatever, my decision doesn’t make sense anymore and I will respond with a simple: “DECISIONS WERE MADE!”

My thought process is inaction is often the worst thing you can do. Frankly, inaction is also a decision. Recently, I listened to a book by Tony Robbins and he said for anyone who is struggling to make decisions, the best thing they can do is continue to make decisions. It’s like a muscle. You have to continue to work it and perfect it and you will continue to get better at making decisions. It’s the only way to get better – keep doing it. It makes total sense.

Recently, I took my daughter on a whirlwind, epic, amazing adventure to the Taylor Swift concert in Tampa on Thursday, April 13th. We flew in from Indy for about 24 hours just to go to the concert. She’s 11 years old. It’s her first concert. She’s had a tough year (mean girls, bullying) and I wanted to give her something magical because she deserved it. Well, of course, we wanted to get some merch! The lines were INSANE!! Taylor Swift sold out the Raymond James Stadium all 3 nights she performed. That stadium holds 75,000 people. People who sat around us, or were in line at the bathroom – I took the opportunity to ask how long they waited. All reported they waited 45 minutes to more than an hour.

Merch Decisions Were Made

I didn’t want to squander our time at this event by standing in a ridiculously long line. We started to, but then my daughter said was getting hungry and had to pee. Food and restrooms definitely outweigh merch. So, I said, “Why don’t we just order the stuff online?” That’s what we did. We went to our seats and ordered some stuff. Even though I qualified for free shipping, I sprung for overnight shipping hoping she would get it Friday or Saturday and would have it for school Monday. (She has one incredible teacher who’s a HUGE Swiftie!) It seemed like the perfect plan.

Well, near the end of the concert, I got up to get more water (because I’m part camel, I was sweating, blah blah) and the merch line was COMPLETELY EMPTY! Not one person was in line! I was like, “GUYS! What happened!?” LOL They laughed and said they hadn’t stopped moving for 4 hours. So I said, “Okay, I just placed an order online, but tell me something I can get here that I can’t get online.” So they suggested the poster (which is really cool and says Tampa on it) and a tote bag. So, we did leave with some merch, but the shirts are in the online order.

Decisions Do Diddly

So, it’s the Tuesday, following the concert and I still don’t have my merch. I reached out via email and someone quickly replied, “Oh, our online store is pre-order online right now and isn’t set to ship until July 9.” My head nearly exploded straight off my body. Where did it say that!? As I furiously return to her website, I see now that way below one of the item descriptions, there is mention of shipping in late June / early July. This should have been IN BOLD, AT THE TOP OF THE WEBSITE, with multiple, annoying pop-ups alerting you to this information.

I am raging.

I’m angry with myself for thinking I had come up with the perfect plan to achieve two goals – enjoy the concert and get merch. I’m angry I feel like I let my daughter down. I’m angry with the website for not making a more concerted effort to let purchasers know what’s up. I’m angry with Ticketmaster. I could go on and on, but I’ll stop.

Decisions were made. Decisions do diddly for me today. I may end up cancelling my order and giving money to friends attending her concert in June and having them pick up some stuff for us. Remains to be seen. I sent a pretty seething email back. It may not do any good.

Fangirling isn’t for the faint of heart. 👑