From "The Retribution", by Val McDermid

As you probably know if you've been reading my blog at all recently, I am enjoying an author I discovered not too long ago, Val McDermid.  This week I ran across a passage in her most recent Tony Hill/Carol Jordan novel, The Retribution, that resonated with me.  Tony's response to a question from a friend he met at a local coffee shop as to whether he's getting coffee is to shake his head no and say: 

"Some days, it's just too hard to choose.  The politicians have got it wrong.  It's not more choice we need, it's less.  Too much choice is too stressful.  There have been experiments, you know.  Rats live longer and healthier lives when they have fewer choices, all other things being equal."

I definitely know what it feels like to be overwhelmed because of the number of choices there are.  Sometimes I get so overwhelmed I can't make a decision at all, or it takes me much longer to make a decision than I think it should have.  I like having choices, but I like the idea of less stress too!

I think reading the passage was timely considering I've been thinking a lot lately about where I would like to live when I leave the DC area.  There definitely are a lot of places to choose from!  Tonight I subscribed to a magazine called, Where To Retire.  I'm hoping it will give me some ideas!