2022 Mortal Terror.
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I think a lot of people who get paralyzed by choices instinctively understand this idea. I always get hesitant to try new food even at places where the options are basically identical. But, like, you’re only gonna get the one special meal that day so you don’t want to screw it up with a bad adventure. In a larger sense just by taking too long leaving the house can save your life or end it. If my uncle had stayed where he was for 30 seconds longer before he got in his car he might still be alive today. Just seconds is the difference between passing through an empty intersection into the rest of your life, or passing on. It’s daunting to think about & I never used to, but now it’s with me every time I step out of the door.
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When you really get down to it though, most major responsibilities in life involve putting your own body on the line. Hell, it happens to me and I don’t even need to leave the property. I can risk a fall in the shower or a tumble down the stairs with one minor slip.
So unless we get some kind of invincibility suit to wear every single day, we have no other choice to but to take risks just to get the things we need done.
That shit was in the intro to a What If comic I read when I was just a kid. One of my earliest memories is this narrative about whether you where a red shirt or a blue shirt, turn left or right walking your dog could determine whether you meet the love of your life or not.
(catching up with the comic today so this comes some time after the original post)
Strangely enough I was talking to my buddy about this last night. When I was younger, I would always push myself to go out and party even when I didn’t want to, just in case that night was the one where I met the girl of my dreams. He met his fiance by doing the opposite, getting grumpy and deciding to go home, meeting her on the way home.
I got together with my current (longterm) partner at a poker game I wasn’t supposed to be at, cos my other buddies had arranged the kind of night which usually I would have made myself go to, in case I met girls…
Thinking about how unlikely it is that either of us met our partners… I’ve forgotten what point I was making. I think I need to buy some flowers on the way home though
I don’t understand people that always take the same meal at a restaurant. How do you just watch all the opportunities of potentially tasting smth great for the sake of not potentially smth terrible ?
It depends on what you are looking for. We sometimes go to a local Greek restaurant where the owner recognizes us when we come in and knows that my wife doesn’t like onions on her gyro special. Other times we are looking for something that isn’t Cheddars or another Tex-Mex place. Sometimes you want comfort, sometimes you want adventure.
And sometimes what you had last time was so, so good you don’t want to miss your chance to have it again.
And sometimes you are concentrating so much on formulating quantum gravitational field equations that you don’t want to divert your train of thought by either thinking about menu items or getting hungry enough to stop thinking.
Sometimes you do not want to risk your one night out a month on the chance of a bad meal.
It’s always going to be safer to stick with something you know you like. When you get limited shots at special food you don’t want to ruin the rest of your day with a bad experience. In a risk reward scenario some people prefer to avoid risk.
Well, as long as you take risks every now and then when you can afford it, I guess you’re doing okay.
However, sometimes you just gotta take real unknown here and there, then hope for the best. Not making a decision due to paralysis may be the worst outcome.
The most important thing about choices is to make one. I know that’s easy to say since I don’t have anxiety, but even a bad choice can generally be made to work down the line.
That is given as one of the attitudes of successful people: they make the best decision they can based on the available information, then put all their effort into making sure it was the right one.
“No game with higher stakes than life?” I say nay nay. After all, eventually, on a long enough time frame, everybody dies.
[Steve]:
Well, from THAT viewpoint, “LIFE” is basically equivalent to “Tetris”.
You can’t stop “the game” from eventually ending, you can only try to control the QUALITY of “play”, & the DURATION.
Your “Scoreboard” is stored in the hearts of those who remember you.
Your gaming Skill & Style will determine not just how LONG you’re remembered …
… but how FONDLY they remember …
… & on how MANY “Scoreboards”.
My view is that not making a choice is a choice, so you should always add that to your valuation. I’d say that most of the time, if you get stuck, and avoid making a choice because you’re paralyzed, that could be the worst possible outcome. So you should try to at least make a choice and roll with it.
As Mr. Chow would say, “But did you die?” If the answer is no, then hey – could be worse.
With “sorry, little buddy” I am immediately put in mind of the most existentialist Gilligan’s Island ever.
“Heh, sorry little buddy…”
That’s OK, Skipper.
X2! Maryanne is awfully tall and Ginger is with Thomas.(Would he be the Professor?)
Would Reggie and Wes be the millionaires?
And now I’m wishing that the comments here had “like” capabilities.
In the second panel it should be “decision.”
Guy at work today happened to lean on the spare tire and mount on the digger trailer, and it wobbled-and therefore he discovered the mount was broken almost all the way through, and he almost certainly would have lost it on the way home-possibly through someone’s windshield. And he only happened to lean on it because he didn’t have a part, because he was in the backup truck cause the big truck was broke down. Lots of scenarios coming together to possibly prevent something disastrous. Make up your own mind, but I’ll say a prayer tonight.