OK, I’ve never been much of a shopper but all of the hype associated with Black Friday has even got me looking at a few sales! In the end, I caught myself – what are you doing? OK, it’s nice to save a bit of money IF you’re going to be shopping for seasonal gifts anyway, but it’s much too easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the choices and STUFF! One of my favourite TED TALKS is by Psychologist Barry Schwartz – The Paradox of Choice. In this often humorous presentation he makes the point that, although a certain number of choices is a good thing, we have far surpassed this point and created a situation where our abundance of choices is contributing to our feelings of depression and anxiety. Even when we make a choice, he reports, we are never content with it because we could have always made a BETTER ONE! I guess this is akin to FOMO for stuff! So, in the New Year, I’ll be recommitting to minimalism and creating a life filled with experiences rather than things. Experience has taught me that this leads me down a path of greater riches and connections with others. You may want to have a listen to Dr. Barry Schwartz and decide what choices are in line with your values and which may be feeding the stress which is so prevalent in our daily lives.
