82 | The Comfort of Black and White

This post is Part 1 of 3 of the "Embracing Trade Offs Instead of Seeking Perfection" series.

When things are black or white it's so comfortable - you can rest your mind, you can disregard nuance, and you can allow the absolutes to govern everything.

The decision will be right or wrong.

The options available are scary or safe.

The person is either rich or poor.

Debt is either good or bad.

The budget was met or missed.

Save this much and there's a 99.999% chance you do this thing at this precise moment in time.

In theory, absolutes feel so comfortable, nice, and tidy. Even predictable. They allow life and all its feelings and emotions to fit in a box.

The sneaky challenge with black and white is the implied assumption that there is a right answer. An ideal destination. Complete perfection without trade-offs - once we find the black or the white, whichever one we're looking for, then we'll be set.

The not so sneaky challenge with black and white is that it's not real life. It's not how the world works - there are no perfect decisions or outcomes.

You're going to buy something that goes on sale a week later.

You're going to finally pull the trigger on investing dollars only to see them decrease in value immediately after you get started.

You're going to purchase a home after properly inspecting it only to discover it has more problems than you ever imagined.

You're going to make a decision that feels exactly right and then all the facts and circumstances will change and you'll be tempted to believe you made the wrong decision.

You're going to hear a rule of thumb that feels like it should apply to you, but doesn't, and then feel uncertain about everything else.

Once the allure of black and white or the pursuit of perfect infiltrates our relationship with money, we're on a hamster wheel to nowhere with "more" money quickly becoming the only solution.

As we go about seeking perfection, the ambiguity of money only adds to the chaos...