I finally realized why I hate to shop for new clothes or to
shop for basically anything at all.
Barry Schwartz discussion about the paradox of choice explains why with
regard to choices, “more is less.”
Schwartz explains how we live in a world where we have so many choices
for anything from selecting cereal to buying a house. With so many choices, we become paralyzed
with our decision making. With so many choices, it takes us a long to time to
decide and sometimes we cannot decide at all on what we want. Finally, when we
finally choose from the many options, we are often left with regret for making
the choice. It makes so much sense. When you have so many options and then you
are not satisfied with your decision, you can only blame yourself. Schwartz also talks about opportunity cost
which is when we select one activity over another and we know are giving up
something. When we make are the ultimate
choice, we are aware of what we have missed out on something which causes
distress. I am not sure if there is an answer
to the paradox of choice. For me, I
think I will try to decide exactly what I am looking for before I go out to
shop so that I do not become overwhelmed and paralyzed when I get to the
store!
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This was very interesting because I have experienced this myself! I have a major shopping problem (lol) and I find myself getting completely frustrated with myself when I have an idea in my head of what I want, but cannot seem to find it. I am then left with nothing at all and just overall frustrated. It is crazy how the brain works within this type of scenario. I have to deal with it all of the time and it can be exhausting!
ReplyDeleteIt is great to know that there are other people in the world that share the same struggles as I do! I am the absolute worst at making any decision even if it is just choosing where to eat. Sometimes I think it is that I hate only being able to choose one option, but other times I hate making a decision that also affects another person. I am known for passing the reigns of decisions like restaurants and outings to other people and just following their choices! Although that does not help when making a decision for something more serious, it reduces the stress of the small decision making process!
ReplyDeleteI relate to this post a lot. I, myself, tend to be very indecisive. Personally, as people, I think the less options we have, the better. I say this all due to the fact that as humans, it is our nature to not be content with the things that we have. We overlook the "little things" simply because we have the tendency to keep wanting more. There is no sense of contentment and I admit to this as well. For example, we may already own 20 pairs of shoes but we still keep buying new pairs, it's human nature. Furthermore, when it comes to decision making, our indecisiveness tends to cloud our own judgements. We become very indecisive and when it's time to take a pick, make a choice or simply coming to a final decision, we sometimes make the wrong one. All of this turns into regret in the long run.
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