From supplements, insurance to daily consumption: Why do we become increasingly anxious when there are so many choices?
When we were young, we rarely seriously thought about the topic of "aging".
Back then, the body seemed to have an unlimited ability to recover.
- If you stayed up late, just sleep for a while and it would be fine;
- if you ate too much, it would pass after a few days;
- when a pimple occasionally appeared on your face, you wouldn't think it was the body reminding you of something.
But as we grew older, many people began to notice some changes gradually.
The skin was no longer as firm as before, the body's recovery speed slowed down, and sleep seemed not as casual as it was when we were younger.
Especially when someone suddenly said:
"You look very tired recently."
"Your complexion is not good."
"You seem much older."
These seemingly ordinary words sometimes suddenly touch upon our inner anxiety about aging.
So, we started to seek answers.
How to fight aging?
How to improve sleep?
How to protect the cardiovascular system?
How to maintain muscles?
How to make oneself look younger?
Then, we encountered a large amount of health information.
Omega-3, Vitamin D, Creatine, CoQ10, Magnesium, Collagen...
Each product seems to have its own reason.
- After reading an article, one might think they should take Vitamin D,
- and after reading another one, they might need Omega-3;
- someone says creatine is helpful for middle-aged and elderly people,
- and someone tells you that collagen cannot be lacking.
Gradually, we developed a feeling:
It seems that everything should be bought a little.
But problems also emerged.
After taking them for a while, there was no obvious effect.
So, should we continue? Or stop?
- Is the dosage not enough?
- Is the product wrong?
- Should we add another one?
In the end, people did not become healthier, but became increasingly tired.
What we truly lack might not be products.
I increasingly feel that we do not lack products or solutions now.
What we truly lack is someone to help us judge:
- What problem do I have exactly?
- What do I really need?
- What is helpful to me?
This is why many people, when talking about supplements, will come up with two completely opposite conclusions.
Some say:
"Supplements are all blind consumption cost."
Others say：
"This is good for the body, and that one should also be taken."
In fact， both of these statements are too simplistic.
Whether a product is valuable and whether you need it are two different things.
A good product does not necessarily mean it is your answer.
Similarly，one supplement is helpful for one person，but it does not mean everyone needs it.
The relevant information from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States also emphasizes that the demand for supplements is affected by factors such as age， diet， and health status， and the strength of evidence for different supplements is also different.
This is quite easy to understand.
Products can be standardized，but people are not standardized.
The same bottle of Vitamin D，on different people，may have completely different meanings.
A person's dietary structure，lifestyle，age，exercise habits，physical condition，and the medications they are using can all affect whether they really need a certain supplement.
So，the truly important question has never been：
"Is this thing good?"
Rather, it is:
"Is this thing necessary for me?"
Why do wealthy people tend to do better in health management?
We often think that the advantage of the wealthy in life is that they can buy more expensive things.
But when we look at health management in real life, we find that the real difference is sometimes not "buying more".
Rather, they are more likely to obtain professional judgment and support.
They may have doctors, nutritionists, fitness coaches, or other professionals to help them analyze their situation.
They may not necessarily buy a bottle of Vitamin D right after hearing it's good.
Nor will they start taking Creatine immediately because it's recently very popular.
They are more likely to have a continuous health management system:
- What is the current state of my body?
- What are the problems?
- What should I pay attention to?
- What things are worth supplementing?
- How should I supplement?
- When do I need to adjust?
Ordinary people can't possibly have a professional team for every life choice.
But we can gradually learn a way of thinking:
Don't look for needs from products, but look for products from needs.
Two common extreme problems that easily arise:
When someone tries many supplements but doesn't feel any obvious effect, it's easy to come to a conclusion:
"Supplements are all scams."
So, "Supplements are blind consumption cost" has become a very popular saying.
But conversely，some people think because a certain supplement is helpful to them， it means：
"This thing is so good，everyone should take it."
These two viewpoints seem completely opposite，but they commit a similar mistake：
Both expand individual experiences into general conclusions.
What works for one person doesn't mean everyone needs it.
What doesn't work for one person doesn't mean it has no value for everyone.
A truly mature judgment might be：
Is it valuable？ Do I need it?
This easily reminds me of insurance products， and it's the same logic.
When insurance is mentioned，the common feeling is that it's deceptive，and there's an unconscious defense against insurance salespeople.
In fact，you haven't really understood yourself：
- Why do I need insurance?
- What risks am I really worried about?
- If this risk occurs, can I bear it myself?
- Which risks are worth transferring?
- What do I need：protection，cash flow，or some kind of future financial arrangement?
Then look for a product that suits you.
Because insurance itself doesn't have a simple "good" or "bad".
Different products solve different problems.
If someone buys an insurance product originally only for auxiliary protection after retirement，but measures it by "when will it pay off"，then he may have used the wrong evaluation criteria from the very beginning.
Conversely，if a product mainly assumes long-term financial arrangements，then just because it doesn't show short-term returns，it can't simply be said that it's "deceptive".
First，figure out what problem you need to solve，and then evaluate the product. This often makes things clearer.
From supplements to various consumer products like soy sauce，we all face the same problem.
Interestingly，this "choice difficulty" doesn't only occur in the fields of health and insurance.
It has permeated our daily lives.
There are more and more skin care products.
Creams have different ages，different skin types，and different functions.
Serums have anti-aging，moisturizing，whitening，and repair functions...
Even soy sauce in the kitchen can be divided into light soy sauce，dark soy sauce， steamed fish soy sauce，dipping sauce，pickling，and dumpling filling-specific...
Products are becoming increasingly specialized.
Originally, this should make life more convenient, but when the choices exceed our judgment ability，it can also become a burden.
We start to constantly compare.
- Is this better than that?
- Is this more suitable for me?
- Since everyone else has bought it, should I also buy it?
- If I don't buy it, will I have missed out?
So, a very interesting consumption psychology emerged:
- If I buy it, I'm afraid I'll make a wrong choice;
- If I don't buy it, I'm afraid I'll miss out;
- If I use it but it doesn't work, I feel like I was deceived;
- If it works, I'm worried that I should buy another type.
This is a very interesting phenomenon:
- I bought it, but I'm afraid I made a mistake;
- I didn't buy it, but I'm afraid I missed out;
- If it doesn't work, I feel like I was deceived;
- If it works, I'm worried that I should buy another one.
What really makes people tired is sometimes not the abundance of products.
Rather, it's our attempt to purchase more things to eliminate the uncertainty in our hearts.
This might be a kind of "judgmental imbalance"
We live in an era with an extremely rich array of solutions.
In the past, a family might have only a few types of skin care products, a few health supplements, and a few common medicines.
Now, just by opening our phones, we can see hundreds of thousands of products.
The information is getting more and more abundant, and the choices are increasing.
However, our judgment ability has not grown along with the number of products.
So, a strange phenomenon emerged:
We have more and more choices, but making decisions becomes increasingly difficult.
This not only happens in consumption, but also in many aspects of life.
- What to eat?
- How to exercise?
- What insurance to buy?
- Should I take supplements?
- Which skin care products to use?
- What to learn?
- What to invest in?
- We are always seeking the "best answer".
However, in the adult world, many questions do not have a "best answer" suitable for everyone.
More often, what we need to find is:
What is an adequate answer for me at this moment.
Don't ask "What are people using?", but rather "Why do I need it?"
So, when we encounter a seemingly great product again, we can pause for a moment.
Don't rush to place an order.
Ask yourself a few simple questions:
1, why do I need it?
Is it because I really have a problem, or was it told to me by someone that "you should have this problem"?
2, what specific problem does it solve?
Don't stay stuck on "It's good for the body", "anti-aging", "improves your state" and such very broad expressions.
What exactly does it target?
What do I hope to improve?
3, are there other simpler solutions?
Sometimes, we purchase a product because we ignore the most basic solution.
- Insufficient sleep, improve sleep first;
- Unreasonable diet structure, adjust diet first;
- Lack of exercise, establish exercise habits first.
Not all problems need a bottle to solve.
4, how long do I plan to observe?
Many health products don't show changes after just one use.
But on the other hand, we shouldn't use something we are not sure if we need indefinitely just because of the words "Long-term effective".
Give yourself a reasonable observation period, which is more important than endless anxiety.
5, what does it mean for me if others are effective?
Other people's experiences are certainly valuable.
It can help us narrow the choice range, can be used as a reference, and can also help us understand the real usage experience.
But it is not our own answer.
Other people's results are information, not a conclusion.
This might be one of the abilities we need to establish in this information explosion era.
We don't need to become experts, but we need to learn to be a smart consumer.
Ordinary people don't need to turn themselves into doctors, nutritionists, insurance experts, or skin care experts.
We don't have that much time, nor do we need to master all the knowledge.
But we can have basic judgment.
- Know when to make your own judgment.
- Know when to seek professional help.
- Know what is fact and what is just marketing.
- Know that others' successful experiences are worth referring to, but not to be directly copied.
More importantly, allow yourself to say:
"This thing is good, but I don't need it now."
This is actually a very important ability.
Because maturity is not about having more and more.
Rather, it is about becoming increasingly clear about:
What is worth including in one's life, and what is not.
True freedom is not having more choices.
We often think that the more choices we have, the freer we are.
But the reality might be the opposite.
When the choices exceed our judgment ability, choices can become a burden.
True freedom is not being able to buy all the products available.
Rather, it is being able to calmly say:
- I know what I need right now.
- I also know what I don't need at the moment.
- I don't worry because others have them, nor do I panic because I missed a product.
- I can refer to others' experiences, but I will not directly adopt their answers as my own.
From supplements to insurance, from skin care products to soy sauce in the kitchen,
we actually do the same thing every day:
Within the limited time, money, and attention, decide what is worth keeping.
So, what we truly need might not be more products.
But rather, a clearer understanding of ourselves.
Knowing what problems we need to solve, what is worth trying, and when to stop.
A good product does not equal it being your answer.
What truly matters is:
What is useful to others, what is useful to me, and what is useful to me now.
When we no longer try to eliminate inner uncertainty by purchasing more things, but start to establish our own judgment standards, facing an increasingly complex world, perhaps we can be a little calmer and have less anxiety.
And this might be the truly scarce ability of our era - knowing what we need.
