Choices. Are they good or bad?

Have you ever heard someone say, "Life was much simpler those days." kind of dialogues? I bet all of you would have come across someone say this in your life. Be it a person in your family, profession or even a distant relative, this is one of the cliché dialogues that we would have heard them say. So, what is that one thing that they had which we now do not have? Or let's ask this question in a different manner. What is that one thing, which we have now, that they never had? 

The answer is the title of this post - Choices! Their days were not filled with so many choices. Let it be matters of schooling, higher education, work and even wedding. Do you ever hear about any of the oldies talk about destination wedding? No. It was all based on a handful of simple decisions. They did not have to worry about competing with others nor did they want to create a shebang out of their special day. This never meant that they did not see this day to be a special one, but they were clever enough to find special moments in between simple acts. For instance, they never went on International holidays but enjoyed their Sunday afternoons with their families to the fullest. They might not have had many choices of dining outlets then, but they savoured the dishes prepared at homes with delight. 

Still not clear about what I am trying to say. How many times have your surfed through digital platforms, yet found nothing satisfactory to watch? But our previous generations or the one before that had just one channel on Television and only a handful of programs that aired on specific time slots. Yet they thoroughly enjoyed it, in fact we too did enjoy when we were kids. None can forget those Sunday afternoons when we along with our parents used to have quality time together, just by spending time together at home sitting in front of the television and watching the movie that was aired. 

Weekly outings, movies and branded restaurants were never needed to make the day special. It was not that we had no access to these, but because we were content with the little things that we had in our life. But in today's world, we are filled with a diverse range of choices which are not just meant to give us a variety of experiences but also a fair amount of confusion. Have you been to a buffet and even after trying all the dishes felt in-satiated? On the other hand ordering a handful of our favourite dishes and savouring them had always made our stomachs full. This is the delusion that choices give us. It tricks us into thinking that we have a lot of avenues, making us forget that at last we are only going to travel along one. This is the Paradox of choices. 

It suggests that multiple choices actually requires more effort to choose and this at the end can always make us feel unsatisfied with the choice that we make. Most times, after making a decision we always tend to look back and think about the choices that we had not opted for. And in this process, we forget to live the life that we have chosen. This can give you an impression that "What is given is better than what is chosen." 

When we are given something and if we don't know about the other available options we never fuss and start to live with what has been given. This just clears our mind of unwanted confusions and dilemmas. 

On a conclusive note, we must learn to be happy with what we have been given or with what we have chosen for ourselves. Never live by the choices someone else makes for you. Even if it is a bad choice, let it be something that you make! Life is after all about experiences and learnings.