Are We Bombarded With Too Many Choices?

I was in the grocery store today picking up a few things and often I find myself taking longer to shop for bargains like the “Buy One Get One Free” deals, especially if I have a coupon for them. I stood in the bread section looking at which loaf of wheat bread should I choose, Merita, Sara Lee, Natures Own, Pepperidge Farm, Arnold or the store brand. Along comes a gentleman who stands staring at the bread as a lady and I were doing and said, you know, when I was in Europe, I didn’t have all of these choices to make just to buy a simple loaf of bread. Then he casually walked away to go pay for his purchase. Now that really did hit the bell in my head.

For some reason with all of the choices that we have, we can become stressed from trying to make a decision on what to choose, when it should be a simple task. Think about this; women try to decide on which shoes to wear that matches a certain outfit and then toy with what accessories to put with it. When people go shopping for a car, so many optional features, colors, interior fabrics and body styles leave us bewildered on which vehicle to purchase. When men shop for tennis shoes, there are so many brands, colors, purposes and styles beyond the traditional sneaker that they take just as long to shop for shoes as women normally do.

Are we so overwhelmed with choices in literally every aspect of our lives that we fret over decisions that should be simple, like choosing which loaf of the same type of bread to select? Here again, is a classic example of how spoiled we can be, yet how extremely blessed we are. Many people in our society unfortunately do not have the luxury of pondering over what type of bread to buy. They are grateful for a loaf of bread…plain and simple.

Perhaps we need to look within the borders of our environment and see if we really have too much “access” to too much “excess!” It is often said that the more choices we have the more freedom we have. Sometimes I often wonder if that freedom can turn into bondage. We must then decide if it is advantageous to keep our excess or to share it with others.