I find it very hard to choose to believe I don't have a free will. Ok, there are all sorts of heuristics going on in my head, based on all the information and experiences I have accumulated during my life, and which happen in the unconscious, but I am sure those heuristics are also based on all the free-willed pondering I have done throughout my life. Just the fact that most decisions appear to be done before they reach my consciousness doesn't prove there is no free will. It proves that there is some advanced and fast heuristics which reduces my need to spend energy on decisions which the heuristics have decided to be non-important. If some decision is important, I can take all the time I find appropriate for making the decision. I am sure I can freely choose how much time I use on it.
I can also choose how I am constantly "primed". I can choose who I spend time with, what books to read, what to watch and what to listen to. Of course those choices are based on some previous knowledge, most of which I have no conscious memory. If it wasn't so, we would be stuck at the beginning, making no progress in anything. So I strongly believe that the automatic system in our heads only supports free will, and frees us from making the same simple decisions a million times.
What I believe we can't choose, is how we are primed before birth. Malsow's hierarchy of needs is programmed into us.
Even if I am wrong and there is no free will, life is sure interesting and fascinating.
Really sorry for the very late reply. The free willed pondering that you mentioned is also based on heuristics going on in your head, based on all the information and experiences you have accumulated till that point in time. The best way to think about it is by trying to understand the very first free-willed pondering that you think you have had. They would have been around the age of 3. By then you would have already accumulated information and experiences which were not in your control. Everything that influences you after that point in time is external stimulus and your perception of the external stimulus (which is based on heuristics). The books you choose to prime yourself with are also based on the way your heuristics work. But as you aptly put it at the end. Life sure is interesting and fascinating even if there is no free will and from your point of view you will always feel like you have a choice. The whole idea of the understanding of the delusion of free will is to empathize more with others and not judge them for their actions as you would do exactly what they are doing had you been in their place.