Murshida Khanum DB POST 5

Conclusion: “An Explosion of Options and Freedom of choices”

Premise: It is undeniable that we have a wide range of choices in this world. Choosing among all the displays is difficult because even when choosing jeans, it makes you think better and worse. Barry Schwartz talked about the freedom we have to make good quality decisions in every aspect of our lives and how that freedom raises our expectations and, unfortunately, makes us afraid of losing our best choices. In the end, we blame ourselves and lose our happiness. For Barry, regret and expected regret, opportunity cost, rising expectations, and self-blame were the products of free choice. Therefore, to achieve happiness, we need to lower our expectations, and the desire to realize all our possibilities can somehow lead to paralysis, so limiting ourselves to what we describe as a metaphorical aquarium can save us from suffering. 

Conclusion: “Money does not make us as happy as we expect it to be.”

Premise: Meanwhile, the article “From ‘Perfect’ Salary to Overtaking the Jones Family, Here’s How Money Can Affect Your Happiness” talked about the relationship between money, happiness, and career. While it is emphasized that several points of income can affect satisfaction, it is undeniable that people who earn more than expected can still be dissatisfied. Moreover, having a well-paying job at the expense of one’s happiness is not worth it. But people still have to pay bills. This is why many of them are stuck in jobs they never enjoyed. After all, we still have to evolve in terms of lifestyle, so it is important to let go of the effects of inflated expectations. The authors have curated those who suggest that happiness lies not in the material things we can buy but in how we use the money to grow as a person, relate to others, and achieve goals. Everyone who said that happiness will not be happy and never like money. With financial ability and stability, we can help us meet everyday needs, and people are still working on competing with others, and I want to get what they have. We are suffering. The article, “In a 2018 survey by BetterUp Labs, nine out of 10 people said they’d trade 23% of their future earnings to have a job with meaning,” and, “At the end of the day, we’re humans and we struggle with existential issues like what’s the meaning of life, and who am I?” Klontz says. “And those sort of questions don’t go away when you get a bunch of money,” suggests that money is not everything. Therefore, if you fix happiness and wellbeing with socio-economic status, you can forget to live now. We often overlook that a job that satisfies your wellbeing, passion, and power is more than just a job that pays for itself. On the other hand, there is a nervous ideology that we must choose the best for ourselves now that society has become more accessible and has wider choices. But because there should be no limits, psychological pain comes from the bad, which can lead to psychosis. As Barry puts it, “It’s easy to imagine that you could have made a better choice.” It is one of the factors that decrease satisfaction. Regret always breeds satisfaction, and no matter how reasonable a choice you make, it will look bad. On the other hand, material abundance appeared in society. Rather than helping, it becomes a burden. Having too much leads to not having everything. Most of us carry unnecessary burdens. What articles and TED Talks teach us is the reality we face. There is happiness in contentment, living in the present, and enjoying what you do. So, rather than giving the infinite, it is always important to look at what makes you happy. Because in our pursuit of the infinite, we tend to grab more and forget what happiness is. We can satisfy ourselves, but we will never truly accept what we have. So, the next time we choose jeans, we find the ones that fit us rather than fear that the world will lose the best jeans imaginable. The next time we choose a job for ourselves, we choose a job that we will enjoy.