I recently wrote about some mugs I ended up buying. Here is one about one that I did not buy. And there are two reasons for that.
One is the most cognitive reason. I have a checklist of features - and though I loved this mug, it had glitter on it. Which meant it could not be microwaved. And that meant it was a “no” from a usability perspective. And that is a hard “no”. Though emotionally I liked the message on the cup and the fact it was different and unique, the cognitive won this time.
The second thing I look for is meaning-making. Look at the message “3 Wise men” - my hairdresser, my jeweler, and my bartender. How times have changed. There are people who do go to talk to these folks, just to talk. Like talking to a therapist. And get free advice. And perhaps this also includes your manicurist. And your pastor. But I digress.
Well for me, I have never used these folks for support. I do not even use a hairdresser anymore - and even the times I did, I used to talk to them so that I can help them with life advice or something and not the other way around.
Of the other two - I have never used a jeweler. I hate wearing jewelry or even watches. They over-burden me. It took me my 25th anniversary to start wearing a wedding band so that I could get my spouse one (and what a story it was, I should retell it another day) and the additional thing I end up wearing is my FitBit.
The bartender for me is an oxymoron in my dictionary. Being a teetotaler I have hardly spent time in a bar. And being a diabetic I don’t drink any fruit juices either. And I have given up on soda entirely over 10 years ago and don’t even drink the diet kind due to the fact that the sugar substitutes do similar things to your insulin resistance by spiking the sugar levels just like sugar does. And that brings me to just water as my fluid of choice except of course there is coffee and I drink a lot of it.
Net of it, the “3 Wise men” could be in my cupboard only to point out who I am not. Thankful that the emotional decision was overridden with my cognitive “no”.
But then again, name me someone how has so many thoughts triggered by just a mug and its captions… then again, aren’t I uniquely my own one little anthro?