Sunday, July 25, 2010






Oddly enough I was feeling overwhelmed with all the options I have to spend my Sunday afternoon. I should be outside as it is sunny. I could be walking, riding my bike, kayaking, canoeing, or sunbathing. I should be gardening, or doing yard work. I could be reading, cooking, doing laundry, or buying groceries. I could be shaving my legs or cleaning my room. I should be writing that letter to the government explaning that the rules of the Tax Free Savings Account were not clear and that I don't want to pay a fine. I also have a big week ahead of me at work and I should be working a bit to ease the shock of tomorrow morning. Can I do all of these? Some of them? How long will each one take? How is it that it is already 6:30 and I haven't really done much of anything despite all these seemingly important things I should be doing.

Plagued by my decisions I went onto ted.com and just started listening to random talks. Oddly enough, I quickly found this one about the Paradox of Choice; this guy's thesis is that the amount of choices we have in the western world has a negative impact on our lives. No matter what we choose we are always curious about the next best thing we should have chosen. We are responsible for what we choose to do so we blame ourselves when something goes wrong or isn't perfect. We are able to spend our time to make us happy, so what happens if we pick things and then they don't make us happy? I feel like whatever I write, I am somehow paraphrasing someone elses smart ideas so I might as well be upfront about it. The examples he talks about are salad dressing, vacation spots, who you marry and what type of drugs you should use to treat your health problems.

Thanks, random man on Ted.com. I feel alot better about not knowing how to chose an activity for my Sunday afternoon.