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Writer's pictureRoo

In Praise of Less Choice

May 29, 2020


As a person living in the western world I have always lived with an abundance of choice. So many possibilities of work, study, so much food, so many options for travel, a plethora of people. I know that I am truly blessed. And of course, we live in a culture that values the rights of the individual over the common good. We are lucky that we are more collectively oriented than our neighbours to the south. That the individual rights and freedoms are not taken to such an extreme that someone gets shot for suggesting you wear a mask.

So this period is particularly interesting because we are living in a time of relative restriction. We don't have to think about what clothes to buy and where, what restaurant to go to (if you can afford to eat out), what show or music to step out to listen to or where we might travel or even who we might invite to a party, or a wedding. We don't even have to think very much about who we want to see unless we are meeting on Zoom. There is more than a little relief in this moment where there is less to choose from. There is more ease for me. There is so much less I need to consider. Kind of like Einstein who had seven brown suits, all exactly the same (or so the story goes) so he didn't need to devote any brain power to deciding what to wear.

Not crowded by so many options I am less anxious, have less decisions to make and I don't miss what I can't have or do, because there is no one to complain to and, even if there were they would likely have me on hold for so long I would just give up. 

And so, I have found, I feel so much more content putting one foot in front of the other, feeling the fresh air on my face, chatting with my grandson, holding my husband's hand, doing yoga with friends online. I wonder, what if anything, we will remember from this time, taking it with us into an uncertain future.


- Anonymous Contributor #1

 

The author of this post has chosen to remain anonymous. I have assigned a number to contributors who opt to remain anonymous. This is so readers have a sense of the number of different contributors that are involved in this continuously growing community.

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