The paradox of choice

      I read a book once called “The paradox of choice” and was struck by how much it resonated with me. The premise of the book is that more choice is not necessarily better, for a variety of reasons. This assertion flies in the face of everything a red blooded, modern American is taught. Freedom of choice and multitude of choice are our esteemed ideals. Certainly the more choices we have the better, right? Wrong. At some point more choices become a kind of burden on the psyche. Given a large number of options we feel more conflicted than if we had say two, or three. We have to spend more time agonizing over what would be the best option and ultimately, when we do manage to choose, we are left less satisfied and more likely to wonder if the decision we made was correct or if one of the other options would have suited us better. Don't get me wrong, I love having choices, but each additional choice comes counterbalanced by confusion, indecision, and dissatisfaction.
I'm naturally an indecisive individual. I struggle with the paradox of choice every day. When I go to Target to buy laundry detergent I allot a good half hour to the endeavor. There are not just a few options, there are MANY. Which of the twenty brands do you like? Would you prefer a liquid or a powder? High efficiency or no? Blue or green? A large jug or small? Eco friendly? Fragrance free? Mountain breeze? Lilac Fields? Hawaiian Hibiscus? LAVENDER DREAMS? SUN DRIED LINEN? SPRING SUN? ENGLISH MEADOW???????????????!!!
Before long my nostrils have lost the ability to discern between fragrances and I generally decide based on some trivial detail like color of the bottle or the declaration that it's BPA free (I don't even know what that is). Then I get home with this painstakingly chosen item only to reminisce about Hibiscus Fields or whatever and wish that I had bought that one instead. And that's just one part of the equation. There are fabric softeners, color catchers, odor preventers, and scent extenders. It's great that mankind has improved from washing our laundry in a stream and drying it in a mangle, but did we have to go this far? I honestly think it would cause me less consternation to take my washing to the river and beat it clean against a rock. Of course it wouldn't free me from spending an hour deciding which rock and which river.
I think I've always been like this. Do you remember those “choose your own adventure” books? I was given one by my aunt and it annoyed me to no end. I could not possibly be satisfied until I knew that I had chosen every possible adventure. To that end I would fold over each page as I read it so that I knew when I had read every single page. Life is sort of a choose your own adventure book, the problem is that you can't go back and choose again until you have explored every possibility. Instead, once you turn the page there is no going back and you have to accept the page you've turned to, good or bad. For every day of life there are a million choices and it's impossible for any mortal to know the exact outcome of any of those decisions until after they have been decided. What's your favorite laundry detergent?