The curse of choice.

"If you don't want to do something, just don't do it." - Mthoko M. Mpofana

We live in a world of many choices & hence, many paths in life. While having many choices sounds great, it poses a hidden risk. Think of it as a multiple choice question; if there were one correct choice everyone would get the answer right &, unfortunately, if there were only one wrong answer - you'd either have the choice of getting the question wrong or leave it out & get it wrong anyway. At least, you know what you're getting with the one choice you have as opposed to getting caught up in many nuances that could or could not make sense.

In South Africa, we have laborious & frustrating PayPal accessibility. So much so that we have to risk getting our funds out of our own PayPal accounts via scammers & very tiring bank routes for both the bank & customer. Now, if PayPal were not a choice at all & we had to simply get deposits into our bank accounts or cryptocurrency wallets - it would be so much easier but unfortunately there are online spaces where there are no routes to gain finances except through PayPal or not get them at all. If there were no PayPal, we'd have not gotten paid & when there is PayPal, we risk being scammed. My choice was simply no longer using PayPal unless I absolutely have to, it is so laborious & requires so much for a simple request of gaining your own money that it becomes almost not worth it. It's like someone calling you out for a pick-up game when you're at your worst, so you practice until you get better & when you you're finally ready - they figure you're too good & try everything to stop you from playing them. It's futile. 

I'd rather have a clear working PayPal or just not use PayPal to get paid in South Africa at all, regardless of the money I am missing out on. Why are we given choices to dead-end avenues? It's just a waste of our time, energy & potential. Freedom of choice is sometimes a curse when we're given useless options. 

What made the 2000s great (personal experience)...

In the 2000s, some things were really messy because of foreign entities for me but the 2000s had times of being great in that whatever was expected of you was written clearly on paper or put verbally in simple terms. 

You could listen & watch anything you liked on any media without feeling you're selling out to some cause. 

People weren't out to try make you something you never were other than entitled outsiders. 

You weren't obliged to be anywhere or with anyone. If you wanted to see someone, you went to see them or arranged to meet them somewhere. Simple. 

The world really felt bigger than you in the 2000s. Today, the world almost feels like it's being designed as you live. It's a very counterintuitive & unsettling feeling. It makes the world feel flimsy, fabricated & unstable. When in the 2000s people were busy with their lives... Today, it feels like people are busy with other peoples lives & this culture of small-mindedness really makes mice out of people you expected to be "bigger-minded". It makes huge authoritative, educational, financial, political, industry & social establishments you used to respect as a child feel tiny & unserious. 

Today's world really makes a joke of itself. All the good, strong men that would lead us in the past are now scavengers for anything including anything that you have. It's really pitiful. I would have never believed such things would happen if you showed me how life would play out in 2025 as a twelve year old back in 2002. 

The kids of today don't know what it means to respect something, anything. And I'm not sure if that's what God Himself wants. 

The post-2000s world really feels surreal, not genuine, unnatural & illegitimately fabricated. 

And I think today's world just shows the importance of keeping to yourself & looking out for what's important instead of tiny, meaningless things. 

Living in a world that is bigger than individuals keeps everyone sane & safe.