Choice - The enternal enemy

We all know well how much options are all around us…
From simple things like what food to order all the way up to who to marry.

Let’s face it: Choice is everywhere

Q: Is it inherently a bad thing?
A: No, not at all.

The enemy is ourself. We procrastinate forever on which thing to do or not to do.

This is where choice shows it’s ugly face.

Paradox of choice

The problem stems from the simple fact that in our modern world there are too many choices available to us.
And no, I’m not against having many things to pick from - I have a problem with overthinking what to pick in the end.

This very much is the paradox of choice.

Barry Schwartz wrote a book about this very problem:
The Paradox of Choice

Decisions

We’ve all been in the situation where we were forced to pick something.
I get it, it is great to have variety - to some extent that is.
In the old days you either picked X or Y. Nothing more and nothing less.

We are bombarded with alternatives nowadays which makes it hard to select anything at all.

Imagine having to pick one Linux distribution for the rest of your life…
Welcome to the never ending “The grass is greener on the other side” mentality.

Q: Can one even make a perfect pick?
A: No, and that is not the point when making decisions.

A fresh look

Imagine for a moment that whatever you picked was the right choice - no matter what it was.
Imagine also that product X does exactly what you want And last but not least, imagine yourself being content with your selection.

That’s it, literally.

Our brain constantly tells us that something else might be better suited for us. The only thing our brain is not telling us is if it even matters.

There is a name for that: Shiny new syndrome. FOMO.

Missing something

Reality is not always what it seems.
Just because we are provided with many things to chose from does not mean that we have to pick anything in the end.

Do you go to Distrowatch for example and change your distro everytime something new hits the ranking?
I suspect only a handful of people would do that at all.

Besides: Choice only makes sense when there is a need for it.

If you drank Sprite all your life and you love it why force yourself to drink the new Sprite++ when you are totally happy with what you got?!.

This is where our mind plays a trick on us.
The so called fear of missing out.

A lesson in reality

If we struggle to select anything, why even bother?
Life is not forever… and thinking that we can do it all is not possible.

Fun fact: Everyone on this very planet (Aliens in other worlds excluded of course) is constantly missing out, period!

That is a fact.

So, let me ask again: What will your choice be?
If you answer “I don’t know” you might have just grown a little.
Because we do not know before we actually select/use something.

Does it matter?

No, not in the slightest.

Don’t let your mind fool you into making life harder by constantly changing from A to Z.

Use what you have and have an open mind.

Don’t jump onto any new bandwagon just for the sake of it!

If I were to collect any NES / SNES game I would be brankrupt. Still, I do miss out on that in a strict sense.
The point here is that it is totally fine to not give into something new and making choices all the time.

It is about having fun - not struggling with making choices!

So, what now?

Be yourself and use what you use.

Don’t indulge yourself into making choices/decisions when there is no need to do so.

Happiness in life is something not many people have. Our lifes are a constant up and down - which is hard enough as it is.

Think about what you want/need. Focus on your experience as a human.

And for the love of all that is holy: Reject FOMO

Final words

This was just a small rant about having too many choices - something that to me is very real.
I do not intend for this very text to be the final truth on the matter, far from it.

I merely liked to give my point of view and hopefully inspire someone at the end of the day.

Remember: Life is a journey, not a game show where all the choices need to be perfect.

Hope that you all have a good day!

Stay Open!