The Stress of Too Much Cereal

When my mom returned to the States after living in Tanzania for five years, Americans kept commenting that she must be so happy to be back stateside where she could get all of the products she wanted. However, my mom was surprised with the realization that despite the fact she now have most of the products she desired, she preferred to shop in Tanzania where she had LESS options.

A typical Tanzanian store or "duka"

In the book, The Paradox of Choice, the author Barry Schwartz explores the impact choice has on our overall well-being. He discovered that, despite popular belief, eliminating choices reduces our stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. Check out his TedTalk below:



Looking back at the example of my mom in Tanzania, she would go to the store there would only be a choice of two or three cereals. However, now that she is back in the USA, she is faced with an entire aisle of cereal choices. Instead of giving her a feeling of freedom to have any cereal she wants, she now has to decide if she wants a sugar-free cereal or one with sugar or the family-size or the regular size.

Cereal aisle in the USA

My mom is not the only one overwhelmed by the amount of choices we have. My housemates are always quick to notice the wide-variety of food options we have in this country from chips to dog food to shampoo. 

Just a few options for dog food..

What perplexes me is the trade-off we have with our happiness to have more options. I hear people complaining about long shopping times or having to spend so much time going through options but very little action taken to simplify our lives. 

Too. Many. Choices.

Seeing that it does not seem like the number of choices we face will be slowing down anytime soon, I will be following Schwartz's advice to just reduce my choices as an individual. To reduce my stress when it comes to shopping, especially grocery shopping, I plan to limit my grocery stores to just Safeway as much as possible and to stick to the same brands rather than constantly comparing brands. And if all else fails, I will just have to move back to Tanzania where most of my choices will already be made for me!

What Do You Think: Are you overwhelmed with the amount of choices we face? How do you eliminate the stress of making so many decisions?