The Paradox Of Choice
Creating Something Real
“Moments of gratitude: Every day, when I wake up, the first thing I do is think of all the good things in my life. There is a lot of beauty around us.”
In our day-to-day lives, the sheer number of choices we face, from what to binge-watch next to which career ladder to climb, seems like a blessing. After all, who wouldn’t want the freedom to pick and choose their destiny, right? But here’s the twist: Barry Schwartz, through his eye-opening book “The Paradox of Choice,” explains that this buffet of options isn’t making us any happier. In fact, it’s doing the opposite. It turns out that the more choices we have, the more we stress about picking the “perfect” one, leading to a cocktail of anxiety, regret, and a nagging feeling that maybe, just maybe, there’s something better out there. This shakes up the old belief that more choices equal more happiness, suggesting instead that maybe, just maybe, less could be more.
This idea isn’t new. The Stoic philosophers of ancient times, like the wise Epictetus, were already onto something similar. They told us that chasing after too many things, especially those shiny, external rewards, won’t end well. Epictetus and his Stoic buddies advocated for a simpler approach to life, focusing on what we can control and letting go of what we can’t. They believed that true happiness comes…
