Letter #44: Roll for It!
Or, what has helped me a tiny bit with analysis paralysis
Disclaimer: Please note that this is not any kind of of health/medical advice and I am not any kind of medical professional. What I describe below is something dorky I use in a way that has helped in a small way with my own mental health that I thought I would share. Thank you for reading!
Dear reader,
Back in January, I bought four individual dice from a charity booth at Super MAGFest 2024, a super fun music and games convention.
I’m a big fan of cool artisan dice, but haven’t gotten into actually buying full sets of dice because almost all of the DnD campaigns I’ve played in have been entirely online and I haven’t felt like I needed a set of dice to physically roll. (That doesn’t stop me from favoriting them online or watching acrylic dice-pouring reels though!)
However, while my husband and I were standing at the booth at the convention and I was admiring the pretty dice but lamenting how I didn’t think I could use them, he suggested a mind-blowing (to me) thought: roll for everyday tasks.
Instead of a coin flip, roll for it. Take several tasks or options you can’t decide between, assign them to odds or evens on the dice, and roll for it.
He suggested it as something to help when I get stuck deciding on what to do next, as I’m someone who can absolutely become completely stuck, at a loss, and stressed out when making decisions between options.
So I bought four dice in different patterns I liked. Ever since, I’ve been carrying them around in a little frog pouch in my bag everywhere I go in case I need to “roll for it” out in the wild. (A random encounter, if you will.)
And I’ve ended up using my dice this way fairly regularly.
Do I sometimes completely forget that the dice are a tool I can use to help me?
Yes.
Do I remember (read: usually Anthony reminding me so I remember) them in the midst of tearing my hair out over a decision and go, “ooohhh, I can roll for it!” excitedly?
100 percent yes.
Does it seem to help me?
Yes.
For me, I’ve found that it’s deceptively simple, but helpful. Sometimes it can help take some of the agonizing out of choosing between doing task A or task B first, picking between which idea for a creative project to work on at the time, etc. Sometimes it can cut my usual agonizing-rumination time about picking the “right” option down by a lot.
Just roll for it.
Some of My Actual Usage Examples
I. For Oh-No-There’s-Too-Many-Fun-Options-What-Do-I-Do-Aaahhh
Usually when I get stressed about doing something fun, it’s because I’m nervous I’ll pick the “wrong” thing and miss out on doing a different fun thing. So, usually when I have a block of time where I can do whatever I want, I tend to come up with six main overarching categories for what I might want to do. This then stresses me out because I want to do all of them equally, making it nearly impossible to choose.
To avoid that, I write down my favorite options and roll a six-sided die (d6) to determine what to do. I assign each task a number from 1-6, then roll to see which number the die lands on. Whichever number it lands on, I do the task/option I assigned to that number!
Note: This is what I use most often for this specific roll, but if you decide to give this a try but you have four options you want to pick from instead of six, you could use a four-sided die (d4) instead!
Example:
1. Bake (cookies, bread, etc.)
2. Read (book, webcomic, comic/graphic novel, story excerpt, etc.)
3. Craft (draw, make zine, paint, cosplay, etc.)
4. Game (usually a video game, which sometimes requires a secondary roll if I’m not sure which game I want to play)
5. Write (newsletter posts, personal writing, fiction writing, etc.)
6. Consume content (watch videos or show, scroll through social media feed, etc.)
I use this style of “rolling for it” a fair bit when there’s a lot I want to do for creative, fun, or de-stressing time, but I start stressing just thinking about which option to pick. (This is very helpful when trying to de-stress.)
Rolling for it helps so I can just go, “Okay, this is what I’m doing now.” Later, maybe a) it’ll be easier to pick the next thing I want to do and just move on to the next thing or maybe b) I roll again.
II. For Two Options
When I have two options that feel equal in my head, that I don’t care about more or less than the other, and can’t decide between either option, I use this roll basically as a stand-in for a coin flip.
I assign the first option I’m thinking to odds (1, 3, or 5, etc.) and the second option to evens (2, 4, or 6, etc.), then roll. I usually use a four-sided die (d4) or six-sided die (d6), but really any dice will work if just using odds and evens like this.
Using a d4 Example:
Odds (if lands on 1, 3): Work on Game Idea #1 now
Evens (if lands on 2, 4): Work on Game Idea #2 now
And if you’re curious, here are the dice I usually roll.
Plus a d20 I carry around with them just in case because someone gave it to me at a DnD-related panel at the same con, so it belongs with the other dice. They’re a little family :)
No Dice?
If you don’t have a set of dice around (because how common is that really?), there are tons online that you can roll virtually (and for free!). A quick Internet search for “dice roller” comes up with a lot of options, including this one that just pops up at the top of the page that you can roll right there. (This is what I’ve used in a pinch.)
I’m not sure if using dice as a tool in this way might be good for someone else, but I like this method a lot myself. Just thought I would share the magic of dice!
Have a day as lovely as you are!
-Olivia
Super cool idea! Thanks for sharing!