A coin is usually two sided. One side is known as the head and the other a tail. Sometimes our needs in life approach us at the same time. Like feeling sleepy on one hand and realising your assignment is due in a few hours. We are embraced by priorities or nature calls on each arm. We are left to make an instinctive or a near instinctive decision to ensure the restoration of our comfortable state. Being faced with somewhat competing needs is tough for the indecisive where deferring to a later moment is not an option.
What do you do when confronted by two pressing needs? Imagine you’ve not eaten all day as you’ve been busy in a variety of meetings. You’re in luck as your last meeting finished 15 minutes early. It’s 3.45pm and your next meeting is scheduled for 4.00pm. All you have before your next meeting is 14 minutes and you suddenly feel the press for a poop as well as dealing with the discomfort that comes with being hungry. Not hungry for success but for food. What are some factors or considerations that will help you make the best decision? Let us unpack this below.
Dealing with the pressure of a poop and hunger:
All you have is fourteen minutes before your next meeting. You’ve spent the last minute comparing both needs. It’s time to lay out some logical thoughts that will help someone in this situation decide the best action to take.
1) The most bearable press: Our threshold for enduring the pain from an empty stomach differs. Some people fare better in dealing with hunger. Others may get grumpy and impatient when dealing with hunger. You have to determine how good you can handle it. Sometimes It might be easier to endure the pain of hunger than the press from a crying bowel.
2) The duration of your next meeting: Some meetings can last for 2-3 hours while others can be brief and take place for about 30 minutes. For longer meetings, you may have to quickly empty your bowels before its commencement.
3) The availability and proximity of food: Some offices stock their staff refrigerators and kitchen with adequate food. If you’re among these lucky bunch, quickly going to the toilet before grabbing a bite will be the ideal decision.
4) The state and availability of the toilet: Some offices provide adequate gender neutral toilets for staff. Others may have to queue up to use limited facilities especially during rush hour.
5) When you last pooped: You might be wondering why this is important. It will help you determine if you’re having a stomach upset or bowel irregularity. Let’s assume you popped once a day and you’ve not done a poop for over 36 hours. This is a sign that you could be long overdue for one and holding this any further may disturb your level of concentration and participation in the meeting.
6) Adhering to the ideal sequence of events: Logically, we want to empty waste before replenishing with something new. This applies to the same scenario. Emptying your bowels and grabbing a quick bite afterwards is the most logical sequence of actions to follow in this case.
Hopefully, these thoughts will assist you in deciding which of the calls of nature is more beneficial to answer before the other.
