The classic conundrum of quantity vs quality.
Which is better or at least more preferable? For most of my life it was quantity. Particularly in food. For example at the office, my reasoning was why go out of my way for quality food? I mean it’s just another lunch right? So Wendy’s, Quiznos, Mickey D’s, Taco Hell, and KFC and then rinse and repeat in a slightly different order the next week. So I wouldn’t get sick of it.
But I was sick of it. Thinking about it, I constantly complained about the food at work. I told my boss, my co-workers, the girl at the fast food cash register. But I never did anything about it. Bring in my own? HA! That would make things worse.
The same thing happened in other aspects of my life that I didn’t deem all that important. I would generally take the cheap mass quantity option rather than holding out or looking for something of better quality.
On the few occasions that things really did matter to me I would take the time and make the effort to find something of quality that would last a long time and serve me well. Cars and computers being the prime example.
Generally it takes me around six months of researching and looking around until I settle on a new car and for the most part they have lasted for a long time and given me really good service. Same deal with computers. So why wasn’t I doing that for the rest of my life?
The little decisions like lunch, or clothes, or experiences, or friends. They may seem common place but they actually have a great effect on how you live your life. I mean I could waste my life going to bars and hang out with barfly buddies every Friday and Saturday night and have the same old stale conversations all the time or go to a museum, a play, a coffee-house, a festival somewhere outside of town. Sure I don’t have a big group of people around me anymore but the few people I do, I really like. They greatly enhance my life.
In the same way I have dropped the fast food habit and switched over to healthier meals. I find that I pay slightly more for them than the junk food but the results are much better for me. I don’t complain about the food anymore and I feel more energetic afterwards as well as getting this feeling that I’m doing something positive in my life every day.
My television lies idle more and more. I no longer find it satisfactory to lie in front of it and let it hypnotize me to sleep each night. More I think of it, the more I want to cancel my cable TV plan. I try not to pick up just any book to read anymore but rather find things worth reading.
I find all these yearnings within me to make fundamental changes in my life to make that life better, not just to have more things in it. It’s taking time but I find that if I slow down and make more careful choices that I can slowly begin to improve my lot in life one carefully chosen step at a time.
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