What’s in your cart today?

Welcome to the marketplace of choices and meaning. Here, the best things are hidden in plain sight.

Adobe Stock by Paisan

Let us imagine life as a big marketplace for a minute. This is not any market. It is a marketplace of life. It’s very chaotic, teeming with possibilities, buzzing with life. The air is thick with the scent of fresh desires. Nothing is labeled correctly, everyone is shouting, and very little of what you buy is stuff you need. Here, every shiny thing comes with a hidden price tag. Each shop is brimming with emotions, habits, choices, and biases disguised as shiny products you don’t want to miss. You are very excited as you enter the market, drawn by the promises of discounts and to look at the latest trends. Like other eager shoppers, you now wander in, eyes wide, wallet-ready, keen, and utterly unaware of the actual cost of what you might buy today. Your shopping list has just one item on the list- Happiness.

The comparison carousel. Everyone else’s grass is greener.

The first shop is called ‘Jealousy’. The text below the logo says, ‘You deserve better.’ The packaging is irresistible, attractive, and glittering like gold. You peek into other’s shopping carts. The allure of comparison is just difficult to resist. Its sly salesman never mentions how…