Too many choices.

My wife recently ordered Netflix for our kid's Wii. If you are not familiar with what this is, it's a disk that Netflix sends you that you put into the Wii and after following a few simple set up instructions you can instantly watch movies through it. I thought this was pretty cool. We decided to watch a movie the other night, so I installed the disk and began. What I thought would be a quick browse through a few movies. The movie library turned out to be a lot larger then I expected. It was set up simple enough, you can choose by genre, new release or by T.V. shows. I scrolled through each genre excited to see movies that I had been wanting to see as well as movies that I wanted to re-watch. My wife was checking on me periodically to see if I made a decision. This is the time when I realized that I have a really hard time making a decision when I am presented with a large amount of choices.

I started thinking back to how long it takes me to make certain decisions, candy in a candy store, a video at Blockbuster, a channel on T.V., women. My wife has called me "picky", a label that I claim I am not. I've never considered myself a "picky" person. I've prided myself in being a well rounded guy. Maybe in my quest to be as well rounded as possible I have developed an eclectic taste in a variety of things that life has to offer. And because I enjoy a good action movie just as much as a romantic comedy, a chocolate covered almond just as much as a sour skittle, I get stuck in the decision making process. I get a little anxious when I'm picking out a candy. I don't want to buy something that a few bites into it I'm saying to myself," I should have got the Snickers." I had the candy store scenario with women as well. So many to choose from, straight hair, curly hair, smart ones, not so smart ones, sweet ones and sour ones, and nutty ones too. And to validate my fears, I picked the wrong one! Yes, I know, if I hadn't gotten married I wouldn't have my two wonderful kids. That still doesn't change the fact that I made the wrong choice. After that I took my time. I started really "reading the labels" and "checking the ingredients".

I discussed this with a couple of people the other day. They gave a few suggestions that they considered easy fixes to an over exaggerated problem. I was told "buy several candies." If I do that I might eat them all. As for the Netflix situation, their advise was to prioritize my genres, pick several movies and plan out my week. It sounds easy, however, I don't have that much time on my hands. I have a wife and kids who believe it or not, want my attention as well. Not to mention that I still have "The Karate Kid ", that I came across the other day while I was channel surfing in my DVR waiting for me to finish watching it.

Maybe I am picky. I might have to simply embrace my pickyness and stop looking at it as a fault. I was "picky" with women and now I'm married again. What I would have called "good comparison shopping" I now realize was being picky. I have not been disappointed. I took my time and got everything I wanted. Curly hair AND straight hair, a mixture of outdoor adventurer and couch potato and yes; a little sweet and sour.
So in retrospect, having a lot of options to choose from is a lot better than settling for whatevers available. I'd rather take a little extra time and increase my chances of satisfaction then to make a hasty decision and be unhappy with my choice.

         

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