Carpe Diem? Maybe Tomorrow

[groovedaddy]

For once, social scientists have discovered a flaw in the human psyche that will not be tedious to correct. You may not even need a support group. You could try on your own by starting with this simple New Year’s resolution: Have fun ... now!

Then you just need the strength to cash in your gift certificates, drink that special bottle of wine, redeem your frequent flier miles and take that vacation you always promised yourself. If your resolve weakens, do not succumb to guilt or shame. Acknowledge what you are: a recovering procrastinator of pleasure.

It sounds odd, but this is actually a widespread form of procrastination — just ask the airlines and other marketers who save billions of dollars annually from gift certificates that expire unredeemed. Or the poets who have kept turning out exhortations to seize the day and gather rosebuds.

But it has taken awhile for psychologists and behavioral economists to analyze this condition. Now they have begun to explore the strange impulse to put off until tomorrow what could be enjoyed today.

Why, for instance, is it so hard to find time to visit landmarks in your own backyard? People who have moved to Chicago, Dallas and London get to fewer local landmarks during their entire first year than the typical tourist visits during a two-week stay, according to a study conducted by Suzanne B. Shu and Ayelet Gneezy, who are professors of marketing at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of California, San Diego, respectively. The Chicagoans in the study had visited more landmarks in other cities than in their own, and even their relatively small amount of local sightseeing was done mainly in the course of entertaining out-of-towners. Otherwise, the only time Chicagoans rushed to see the local landmarks was just before they were about to move to another city, when that deadline inspired sudden passions for taking architectural tours and going to the zoo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/29/science/29tier.html?th&emc=th

[MineralMan]

1. This is very true.

I regularly seize the carp by fishing in the Mississippi in downtown Saint Paul. Locals are often amazed that a guy can catch big fish right downtown. I catch catfish up to 30 lb., too, and walleyes, as well. It's right there. If I worked downtown, I'll fish at lunchtime and eat my sandwich.

Seize the Carp!

[napi21]

2. That's really true. I was born in Pgh, Pa. and I visited Fort Pitt

when I was almost 40! I think it's because a lot of history isn't promoted locally. I moved to SC in 1987 and never visited any local history landmarks. We moved to Ga. in 2000 and did visit the Coca Cola exhibit, CNN, & Underground Atlanta, but that's all. I've wanted to go to the Carter Library, MLK memorial & the State Capitol, but never got to them.

[Thirtieschild]

3. Been there, done that.

Missed Mardi Gras beacause I was pregnant and could do it next year, except next year we were in D.C., where I only visited Congress a week or so before we moved to Atlanta.

[xchrom]

4. Recommend -- there's pleasure all around us

We just don't take it.