Pat’s Point of View

I have no doubt there seem to be two types of people. There are those who ask “why not?” and those who as “why?”. The former make an attempt to find a constraint, and if they don’t find any, go right ahead with whatever they’re considering doing. This tactic might be employed when deciding whether to buy a pair of shoes, whether to go on a holiday or whether to take the plunge off a Mexican cliff (admittedly this is a rather obscure reference).

The other people, of which I am definitely one, attempt to justify everything with a ‘good’ reason. This can be incredibly frustrating and it usually sends me into a downward spiral of continual consideration of available options. Pessimism seems to go hand in hand with asking “why”. Even when something is well deserved, it can be difficult to find a good enough reason.

I think it would be so liberating to be a “why not” person. It’s like the presumption of innocence on which our legal system is built (yes, apparently). You just need to make an attempt at finding a suitable reason not to buy that pair of shoes…nothing? ok then go right ahead. Compare this to trying to find a truly good reason to buy them.

It has occurred to me that my standards for a reason to be considered good enough are impossibly high, and that it’s not because I am a “why” person that I am terrible at making decisions. I suspect that even if I was a “why not” person I would find it impossibly easy to find constraints (errr, yep I definitely do do that). Quite the nutter.

Potentially tricky situations include “why buy new shoes when you can mend those seven year old shoes?”, “why have two things when one will almost do?” and “why paint those walls different colours when they could all be the same?”. On the other hand, hair-trigger reasons not to do something include “even though you have a few spares you should probably stick with all ten fingers”, “you know you will never hear the end of it” and “you’ll look really stupid if anybody is watching”.

If these sound familiar (ie you’ve heard these lines from those voices inside your head) then it may be easier to buy one of those magic 8 balls. Ignorance is bliss.

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