And then, there are books. I literally own close to 200 hundred books, and I have read maybe a third of them. If I were to read all of the books I haven't yet read in my library, it would take me close to 960 hours to do so, or about 40 non-stop days.
Additionally, I have Podcasts. I recently deleted 5 gigs' worth of Podcasts that I haven't listened to for lack of time. Those Podcasts were slowing down my phone to the point that I couldn't do much with it.
It is no surprise that I feel increasingly restless and unsatisfied with my free time to the point that I actually dread it, while at the same time long for it.
I feel paralyzed by too many choices.
The Debilitating Paradox of Choices
According to psychologist Barry Schwartz, in the western world we live under the assumption that in order to increase personal freedom we need to increase our choices. Unfortunately, the more choices we have, the less satisfied we are.
Why? Schwartz claims that when we have too many choices, we have the expectation of making the one perfect choice. Even if we make a good choice, we still feel that a better choice is out there in the world. This nagging feeling of missing out on the best choice actually prevents us from enjoying the choices we do make.
We can spend many hours making a choice, and in the end we feel that maybe we could have chosen something better.
Not only that, but if the choices we made don't meet our ridiculously high expectations of perfection, we only have ourselves to blame. When we are presented with only one choice, and if that choice is unsatisfying, then we naturally blame outside forces for it. If we make a choice out of endless choices and we are still unsatisfied with it, then we are the only ones to blame.
As you can see then, having too many choices not only paralyzes us and raises our expectations to unhealthy and unrealistic levels, but also prevents us from enjoying the choices we make and makes us feel bad about ourselves when those expectations aren't met.
What to Do? The Liberating Boundaries of Simplicity
I believe our call to simplicity is an answer to the tyranny of too many choices. Our culture teaches us to rebel against boundaries and in this process of rebellion we sell our freedom to the ruthless forces of licentiousness and liberties.
Simplicity also enables us to truly concentrate on our inner life, by freeing us up from the addictions of our endless choices. The less time you spend obsessed over what to watch, play, or read, the more time you can spend in single-minded pursuit of God and His purposes for you.
Fortunately, simplicity offers us a model where we can regain our freedom by the liberating act of freeing ourselves of endless choices.
Here are 3 things you can do to reduce your choices and practice simplicity:
1. Declutter! Start a 3-day experiment of decluttering your living spaces of things you don't need, and only keep those that bring you joy. On day 1 start with clothes, day 2 books, and day 3 media (DVDs, CDs etc). This will narrow the choices that you have to the things that really bring you joy, and will bring greater simplicity and satisfaction to the choices you make.
2. Schedule and plan your entertainment! I'm not advocating that you get rid of your Netflix subscription, or all of your entertainment options in order to experience freedom. We all need times to relax and unwind after a stressful day. In order to get the most out of our entertainment we need to schedule and plan for it. Instead of wasting time on trying to decide which movie or episode to watch, spend some time planning what you'll watch this week, and schedule that time in your calendar.
3. Stick to one book per week. If you have a big library and a desire to read many books, chances are that you're reading too many books at once, and only finishing half the books that you start. As you are reading a book, instead of enjoying it your mind is thinking of the 3 other books you are reading at the same time. To prevent this, pick one book that you want to read for a week (or two weeks, depending on how fast you read) and stick to it! One week is short enough of a time frame that if your mind starts thinking of other books you wish to read, you'll know that you can get to them soon, liberating you to enjoy the choice you made for this week.
That's it for now! Do you have any other advice on how to simplify your life?
Modern life is full of too many choices, whether it is toothbrushes in the supermarkets, to sweets, soups or whatever.
ReplyDeleteI suggest one choice to focus on: Christ.
God bless.