Aces In Yellow

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Fear, regret, and fear of regret

It seems that spring time is very ripe for new relationships and old breakups. Something about the good weather or the change in weather affects people towards action. Even the stock market shows increase volumes in trading during the spring.

Part 1: Fear

I think one of the big reasons many people who seek relationships especially during this relationship ripe period and cannot find it is due in large part to insecurity and fear. If you believe as I believe, that there is no ONE soulmate, and that there can be many people to match you well, then it is not as difficult as it seems to find a nice and decently well matched companion. You'd only have to fish where the fish are and be sure to carry nets and not spears.

Part 2: Regret

This is the feeling people get when opportunities arise and they fail to take it for some reason or another- usually for reasons of insecurity or holding out for the ONE. Is it possible to go a lifetime and not meet that ONE out of 5+ billion? Best employ a more proactive approach.
Part 3: Fear of Regret

This is when people cannot let go of the current companion. They fear letting go of something they've invested so much into. Of course, there's never any good reason to invest more time into a doomed situation. People aren't fit for many reasons. It isn't always one person's or another person's fault. Sometimes the timing is off. Sometimes personalities don't click in an intimate atmosphere. Sometimes the relationship just came to its natural expiration. Nothing in this world lasts forever - not even a diamond.

I think in reflection of my own past, I've committed all 3 at least once each probably more if I was willing to reflect longer and sustain a headache. I'm making this note as reminder to myself not to continue to do so. As Buffett said of business (though i find it just as applicable to relationships), "should you find yourself in a chronically leaking boat, energy devoted to changing vessels is likely to be more productive than energy devoted to patching leaks."

1 Comments:

At 1:21 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It might be useful to distinguish between two types of "fear of regret" that are described in Decision Theory.

"Minimize-Max-Regret" is a decision-making strategy where you choose the option that minimizes the possibiltity of regretting the outcome, or the choice that has the least risk of missing out. It has to do with decisions about things you haven't done yet. This is not necessarily an irrational decision strategy.

"Sunken costs" on the other hand has to do with decisions that you've already made. You stick with a choice because you are already invested in it and don't want to waste that investment. Sunken costs is generally considered irrational. Thanks.

 

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