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psychology
Why having too many choices is pretevary
What’s your favorite food?
(Oh and if you’re wondering what the word “Pretevary” means, I just made it up. Close that Google search. Sounds like a real word, doesn’t it?)
It was one of those questions that create bonds between children, just below the “who do you like?” question, which would prove how close your friendship really was. So upon being asked that recently, I looked away and went into deep thinking-mode. Then I came to a conclusion. Well it was more of a question: People have one favorite food?
I guess having more than one wouldn’t make it a “favorite” huh? Hmm.. When I was a little kid, it was cool to say “pizza” as your answer, because you know.. Ninja Turtles.. obviously..
Here’s the thing, whenever I go to a restaurant and take a look at a menu, I hope for a small list of items. If opening a menu feels like going to Walmart where dipping sauces get their own aisle, I will stick with the happy hour menu or go straight for the “Burger” section and pick the classic one. For those of you lucky to have eaten at In-N-Out, you know how popular they are, and you know that they don’t have a whole section for fries. Three simple choices, and they’re numbered like this: 1, 2, and 3. A hamburger, a cheeseburger, or a double-double (double meat, double cheese).
So what do you expect me to say when I’m asked WHAT MY FAVORITE FOOD IS!?!?
AAAAHHHH!!!!!!!
How is someone supposed to decide on one thing out of one billion? I mean, c’mon if you could pick ONE food that you would eat every single day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Or hey, let me put it this way.. what if you got to pick your last meal ever, what would you decide on? Tough, right?
Ugh.
They say that there’s this thing called decision paralysis that people get upon being forced with the freedom that we get here in the USA. Check out all of the decisions we have to make every day:
- A mocha? Latte? Cappuccino? Regular? What size? (short, tall, grande, venti, big gulp?) Sweetener? What kind? (Splenda, sugar, honey, Sweet and Low?) What is your name? (Yes, you obviously have to make one up for them to write on your cup)
- What kind of bagel? (everything, raisin, blueberry?) What do you want on it? (cream cheese? jelly? Nutella? Yes. Nutella.)
And that’s just in the first two hours of being awake. So many choices, life comes with its own:
- Who to date
- Street or freeway
- What songs to add to our playlist
- What to read
- What social media to use
- What to get for lunch
You like choices, don’t you? Ugh get outta here, people. Just kidding. You guys are awesome.
I’m done!
Blah!
Its bacon by the way. My favorite food is bacon.
🙂
The Longest Joke in the World
Enjoy! Then share your thoughts in the comments section 🙂
(From longestjokeintheworld.com, check it out there for the column-format version)
The Longest Joke
in the World
* * *
Lost in the Desert
So, there’s a man crawling through the desert.
He’d decided to try his SUV in a little bit of cross-country travel, had great fun zooming over the badlands and through the sand, got lost, hit a big rock, and then he couldn’t get it started again. There were no cell phone towers anywhere near, so his cell phone was useless. He had no family, his parents had died a few years before in an auto accident, and his few friends had no idea he was out here.
He stayed with the car for a day or so, but his one bottle of water ran out
and he was getting thirsty. He thought maybe he knew the direction back, now that he’d paid attention to the sun and thought he’d figured out which way was north, so he decided to start walking. He figured he only had to go about 30 miles or so and he’d be back to the small town he’d gotten gas in last.
He thinks about walking at night to avoid the heat and sun, but based upon
how dark it actually was the night before, and given that he has no flashlight, he’s afraid that he’ll break a leg or step on a rattlesnake. So,
he puts on some sun block, puts the rest in his pocket for reapplication
later, brings an umbrella he’d had in the back of the SUV with him to give
him a little shade, pours the windshield wiper fluid into his water bottle
in case he gets that desperate, brings his pocket knife in case he finds a cactus that looks like it might have water in it, and heads out in the
direction he thinks is right.
He walks for the entire day. By the end of the day he’s really thirsty. He’s been sweating all day, and his lips are starting to crack. He’s reapplied the sunblock twice, and tried to stay under the umbrella, but he still feels sunburned. The windshield wiper fluid sloshing in the bottle in his pocket is really getting tempting now. He knows that it’s mainly water and some ethanol and coloring, but he also knows that they add some kind of poison to it to keep people from drinking it. He wonders what the poison is, and whether the poison would be worse than dying of thirst.
He pushes on, trying to get to that small town before dark.
By the end of the day he starts getting worried. He figures he’s been walking at least 3 miles an hour, according to his watch for over 10 hours. That means that if his estimate was right that he should be close to the town. But he doesn’t recognize any of this. He had to cross a dry creek bed a mile or two back, and he doesn’t remember coming through it in the SUV. He figures that maybe he got his direction off just a little and that the dry creek bed was just off to one side of his path. He tells himself that he’s close, and that after dark he’ll start seeing the town lights over one of these hills, and that’ll be all he needs.
90. When you can't find the straw
..Because you think you can find it without looking.
24. Dozing off
Your crush suddenly walks into the coffee shop, and notices you sitting there. She smiles, plays with her hair, and then begins walking in your direction. You can’t help at smiling and you begin to notice your heart beating faster. Yup, she’s walking toward you and is now standing by your table. She stretches her arm and begins to wave her hand . . right in front of you? Why is her hand two inches away from your face waving side to side?
“Hello! Come back to Earth!”
Suddenly your dream girl’s hand turns into your best friend’s hand, and the coffee shop turns into the cafeteria. And you’re back to reality.
“What were you daydreaming about? You were smiling.”
This happens to all of us, though our situations may vary in level of awkwardness:
Level 1. You’re with your friends and they wake you from your day dream. They consider it normal for you and joke about it for about two seconds before letting it go.
Level 2. You’re around people that don’t know you very well and they wake you up (like at work).
Level 3. You make facial expressions such as smiling, frowning, or disgust faces during your dream, which give a hint to the spectators about what you were daydreaming about and increase their level of curiosity.
Level 4. You actually verbalized your thoughts and woke up when you noticed you were speaking. I mean, if I heard you talking during your daydream I probably wouldn’t snap you out of it yet.
Level 5. You made hand gestures that reflect your daydream. This level is rarely reached unless a person is in deep daydream sleep.
Things can become especially awkward when you zone out while staring at something. . or someone.
Some people claim that they do not daydream, ever. I’m not very sure if its true or if they just don’t notice it, I mean some people even do it while driving a car. Has your subconscious mind ever taken over? What level of awkwardness have you reached?
