All The Choices In the World – The Paradox of Abundance and Scarcity

Conventional wisdom suggests that more choices = more freedom = better outcomes.  It is an overlooked assumption and expectation of a great and developed society to have a vast majority of choices for its people.

Part of the American Dream as we know it surely lends itself to the notion that choices lead to opportunity.

But if choices are so abundant, how is it we are constantly pushed and pulled in our lives between the narrative of abundance and the narrative of scarcity?

Why do all the ‘seminars near you’, telling you that ‘the world is your oyster, slow down, be patient’ and the ones insisting ‘you have a limited window to be successful, you must take action quickly’ – ring true?

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It’s fascinating that choice paradoxically exists upon our social fabric as a commodity and a novelty.

From my experience, often times, when we come to witness merit within two seemingly opposing ideas, life is telling us to ‘zoom out further‘.

At least – that is my take.

I feel a considerable group [and perhaps the majority] of us have forgotten what real ‘choice’ looks like.

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We are often presented variations within the context of the same choice and call it a day.

• When you walk into a car dealership to buy a car, the choice has already been made; what model you choose is simply a variation.
• When you walk through the jam aisle at Whole Foods (something I feel everyone should have the opportunity to do), the choice has already been made; what type of jam you purchase is simply a variation.

If we truly acted within the framework of having limitless choices and we coupled that with the power of the internet we have today (the almighty Google search) – shouldn’t we feel limitless in our potential?

Why don’t we then?

I think this is where we unknowingly get stuck.  And this stuckness, is indicative of a very fundamental issue within us.

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We feel as if we are, but often times, we are not curating true choices in our lives.

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With the smallest amount of introspection, many of us may come to find that we are unknowingly demanding, seeking and/or attempting to curate nothing more than variations within our lives rather than new opportunities and choices.

If we are truly seeking fundamental change in our lives, this will not do.

We must realize that, even if you boil the individual down to nothing more than a “consumer”, we – as consumers – are still the true creators of our paradigm.

We can demand real choices.  But we have to know what real choices look like.

Perhaps it is due time we act as such and cease from falling into the trap of variation.

The internet has given us the power to find anything we seek with a click of a button. And maybe that’s the problem.

Nowadays – you have to know what you’re looking for.