Fewer Choices = More Happiness?

Fewer Choices = More Happiness?

Do you agree:  Fewer Choices = More Happiness?  According to Google, everyday, we are bombarded with approximately 33,000 to 35,000 total decisions and that includes, WHAT do we eat, WHAT do we wear, WHAT do we say, HOW do we say it.  So much so that psychologists have coined the term 'DECISION FATIGUE' to refer to the deteriorating quality of our decisions over time.  Can you imagine a typical task as going down the grocery store and looking to buy ketchup and you're faced with tons and tons of choices and options📗📙📘

Living in this world inundated with endless choices and options, from WHAT to wear to WHERE to eat, the concept of choice has become synonymous with freedom and empowerment.  However, recent research suggests that an abundance of choices may NOT always lead to greater satisfaction and happiness.  In fact, here comes the paradox of choice theory posits that having one too many options can overwhelm individuals, leading to DECISION FATIGUE, anxiety, and even dissatisfaction.  So, can we agree that fewer choices can promote happiness💧💧💧

Indeed, this sheer number of choices available now in our societies can be super overwhelming, leading us all to that DECISION FATIGUE, that state of mental exhaustion caused by the constant need to make choices.  And WHEN we're faced with that abundance of options, we as individuals may expend significant mental energy, weighing the pros and cons of each choice, leading to that 'DECISION PARALYSIS' which is also known as ANALYSIS PARALYSIS, because the tons of choices would tend to encourage us to pre-analyze and even post-analyze every single option, until you would realize that you got stalled in the decision you got to make💥💥💥

So, WHY DON'T we look back at ourselves.  HOW many choices have you made today?  From the time your alarm went off early morning, even when you decided, albeit grumpily, to get out of bed instead of pressing the snooze button, you decided to challenge yourself to go over for a fast-paced yoga session, to have that long hot shower, and put on the wardrobe that's consistent with your flair for sartorial elegance.  NOW, if we spend seven hours sleeping a day, that makes roughly 2,000 decisions per hour or roughly, one decision every second, whew!@#$%?

Our takeaway:  Let's NOT look too far back.  Just listen to the folks living in the countryside, WHERE they live simple lives, with fewer choices and options to grapple with, YET how often do we hear that the countryside population is more discontented and disgruntled than the urbanized population WHO have to struggle with many more options and choices as compared to our counterparts in the countryside.  OR even going back to our childhood WHERE we had fewer and shorter agenda in life, WEREN'T we happier than WHEN we had tons of options and choices in life now???