An Aussie Abroad: The Struggle of Having Too Much Choice
WHILE travelling, something that is both a blessing and a pain in the bum is having to organise where you’re going to eat each night.
I understand everyone organises, meal preps, sorts out and arranges what they want to eat for dinner each night, but when you’re travelling that whole process involves so many anxiety-inducing choices.
For someone who is both indecisive and who struggles with choice, this is an incredibly bad thing.
I acknowledge that I must sound like a pure bred Millennial complainer but too much choice gives me anxiety and this whole trip has probably made me worse in that department.
Often I approach an over-crowded menu with the same amount of thought-space and strategic thinking as a diplomat brokering peace between Israel and Palestine. It is exhausting!
Maybe this battle with choice is something that has been pre-determined because I am a Millennial?
I’ve had such a privileged life and now because of that privilege I’m now ricocheted into a spiralling anxiety each time I’m presented with a menu featuring more than two options.
Always when I reach my moment of indecision, Natalie, my wife, comes in and helps me work through a menu with a process of elimination. She has the patience of a saint.
Another example of this anxiety of choice is when I have to decide on which accomodation to book.
Natalie and I share the task of booking and planning different destinations of our trip and often I will be stuck on choosing one night’s accomodation for hours on end. I’ll weigh up the pros and cons of everything, back and forth, investing more time than necessary.
Even the thought of free cancellation doesn’t make the situation any better.
All of this anxiety comes from the same place as the fears and stresses that exist when trying to make a definitive decision about which path my career should be going on.
I know it’s all related to FOMO (fear of missing out). What happens if I order the fish and chips and I find out that the vegetarian lasagne is much better, bigger, tastier, healthier?
I’m not sure how I will sort my anxiety out but until then I’m going to try to only eat at places with a minimalistic menu. It’s either do that or cook at home.
