Some decisions look fine in the moment—until everything falls apart later.

In this episode of Decision Pause, Dr. Leslie Jensen-Inman talks about delayed cost: the emotional, nervous-system, and relational impact that shows up hours or days after an activity, appointment, or demand.

This episode is for parents of neurodivergent children who’ve been told “it went fine” but are left managing the fallout at home—and wondering if they missed something.

1. Why some nervous systems hold it together first and crash later
2. How delayed cost makes decision-making feel heavier and more uncertain
3. Common ways delayed cost shows up after “successful” events
4. Why recovery matters just as much as performance
5. How self-doubt creeps in when impact isn’t immediate or visible
6. A simple reframe to help you evaluate decisions more honestly

1. Emotional crashes after events that seemed to go well
2. Increased dysregulation the next day
3. Longer recovery times after short demands
4. Loss of trust when pushing felt unsafe
5. Parents feeling depleted, disconnected, or resentful

These impacts rarely show up in reports or feedback.

They show up at home—in the quiet, and in the days that follow.

Instead of asking, “Did this work?”

Try asking:

What did this cost us afterward?

Sometimes the answer is:

1. It took days to recover
2. We lost emotional stability
3. It drained more than we realized

Sometimes the answer is:

1. The recovery was manageable
2. The cost felt sustainable

Both answers are useful information.

You are allowed to make decisions based not just on how something goes—but on how your family recovers afterward.

That’s not avoiding growth.

That’s choosing sustainability.

In the next episode, we’ll talk about why changing course can start to feel like failure—and why that feeling shows up so strongly for so many parents.

Until then, if you’re questioning a decision because of what happened later, see if you can replace self-blame with curiosity.

This has been Decision Pause.

Thank you for being here—and we’ll pause again next time.