That awkward silence before picking a gift

We were all just standing there, staring at the same three gift options on the screen. Someone had asked the group chat for ideas, and now the pressure was on to pick one. The silence in the chat wasn't the comfortable kind. It was the heavy, overthinking kind where everyone is mentally calculating budgets and personal tastes.

The moment you realize you're overcomplicating it

I could feel myself starting to spiral. Was the fancy candle too impersonal? Was the book too risky if they'd already read it? My thumb hovered over the keyboard, ready to type out a long, justifying paragraph for whichever suggestion I made. I deleted the sentence three times.It wasn't about finding the perfect gift anymore. It was about ending the collective mental gridlock. We were all stuck in the same loop, trying to mind-read someone who probably just wanted us to decide.

Letting something else decide for you

I opened the wheel tool almost without thinking. It felt like a small rebellion against my own brain. I typed in the options we'd all vaguely agreed were fine—none were bad, we just couldn't choose.There was a weird relief in handing the decision over. It wasn't about being lazy. It was about accepting that any of these choices was good enough, and we needed a nudge to see that. The responsibility diffused instantly.

The spin itself

I clicked the button. The wheel spun with a silly digital sound, and for a second, we all just watched it. The tension was gone. It was just a wheel now, doing its thing.

After it lands

It landed on the plant. "Plant it is," I typed into the chat. The response was immediate—a couple of thumbs-up emojis, a "Nice!", and the conversation moved on. The gift was decided. The silence was over. We could all stop thinking about it.