The First Slice is the Best!
On my flight yesterday, I had a front-row seat to a little family struggle. Here's how it played out. Mom, Dad, and 12ish-year-old son sit down right in front of me. They had to hurry from one flight to the next, but they were able to grab some food and bring it onto the plane. After the plane took off, the mother distributed the food. Side note: it looked absolutely delicious. A while later, the son decided he was full after eating about 2/3 of the meal. He looked satisfied and content. The mother, clearly annoyed, chewed him out and said it was wrong for him to waste food. She made him eat the remaining 1/3, after which he seemed stuffed and miserable.
As I'm writing this, I keep oddly thinking about pumpkin pie. Maybe it's the fact fall is in the air, but I couldn't be more excited to slam some pumpkin pie soon. The correct whip cream-to-pie ratio is 1:1, by the way. Anyway, the holidays are quickly approaching, and soon, that pie will be mine! Eating that first slice of pie is going to be outstanding. That second slice won't be as amazing, but I'll also enjoy the heck out of it. The third slice? That one will start to feel iffy. And the rest of the pie? If I were to put down the rest of it, you'd have to carry me to the hospital.
How can the first slice of pie sound so amazing, but the eighth slice sound absolutely unbearable? It's called the law of diminishing returns. The more we have of something, the less satisfying it becomes. That's where we get the saying, "Too much of a good thing." Whether it's the young guy on the plane or me slamming Thanksgiving pumpkin pie, we're all impacted by this phenomenon. Everyone over the age of 12 intuitively understands this concept, especially when it comes to food.
However, we have a blind spot. It's called materialism.
When we get our first iPhone, it revolutionizes how we engage with people and access information! However, when the newest model comes out next year, and we spend our hard-earned money to upgrade, we're barely getting anything for the money.
When we take that long-awaited vacation with our family, it's an amazing, creating lifelong memories experience. However, when we take our 6th vacation of the year, it becomes just another trip.
When we finally build up an adequate emergency fund to protect our family from a serious life situation, it's a tremendously relieving feeling. However, when we endeavor to double or triple that number, we feel only slightly more secure.
Without realizing it, we work our way into too much of a good thing. Everywhere we look, the law of diminishing returns is knocking on the door. We can ignore it and keep falling for the trap, or we can open the door, admit we're prone to these psychological influences, and make more intentional choices.
Now, where's that pumpkin pie?