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Sir,
We are advised daily on how to make the right choices in our lives. This is because we face choices in almost all areas of our lives; education, career, sex, friendships, romance, parenting, clothing, food and religious observations.
There is no denying that choice improves the quality of our lives. It enables us to control our destinies and to come close to getting exactly what we want out of any situation. Choice is essential to autonomy, which is absolutely fundamental to well-being. Healthy people want and need to direct their own lives. When people have no choice, life is almost unbearable.
On the other hand, the fact that a certain choice is good doesn’t necessarily mean that more choices are better. As the number of available choices increases, as it has in our different areas of our lives, the autonomy, control, and liberation this variety brings are powerful and positive.
Choices
But as the number of choices keeps growing, negative aspects of having a multitude of options begin to appear. As the number of choices grows further, the negatives escalate until we become overloaded. At this point, choice no longer liberates, but debilitates. As a culture, we are enamoured of freedom, self-determination, and variety, and we are reluctant to give up any of our options. But clinging tenaciously to all the choices available to us contributes to bad decisions, anxiety, stress and dissatisfaction, and even to clinical depression. Instead, I believe that we make the most of our freedoms by learning to make good choices about the things that matter, while at the same time unburdening ourselves from too much concern about the things that don’t.
However, choosing wisely begins with having a clear understanding of your goals and then evaluate the importance of each goal. After that you pick your winning option. Later use the consequences of your choice to modify your goals, the importance you assign them, and the way you evaluate future possibilities. Most of the time you don’t need the best choice, but one that is good enough is even better.
Brand Shota