What I really want

Recently I decided I should go look at gym memberships.  The Good Life gym right beside my place was the obvious choice, as I certainly won't commute serious distances just to work out.  A crappy gym right in my building is far better than a great gym a long distance away.

I knew that the salespeople you talk to when you wander into a gym were aggressive and usually annoying but this experience was weird.  The woman trying to sell me on a membership referred to me as a monster on two or three occasions - in a complimentary sort of way, suggesting that I am strong and powerful, but it was offputting.  I don't want to be buttered up like that.

I didn't buy right at the time, but the sale was ending in 1 day so I was under pressure to sign up to get a free month.  The next evening just two hours before the sale would end I wandered into the Good Life to try to sign up.  I had finally decided that despite the annoying salespeople I should bite the bullet and get a gym membership.  Unfortunately all the salespeople were gone by that late in the day and they couldn't sign me up so they promised to extend the sale for another day for me.

I wasn't shocked that they could randomly extend the sale - I am quite used to prices being flexible and vary by the whim of the seller.  It sure did take the pressure off though.

But I felt crappy.  I went home and played my semi final Blood Bowl match and my terrible mood caused me to play badly.  I just felt all out of sorts.

Finally I figured it out.  Though I logically had reasoned through why a gym membership made sense, I *really* didn't like the idea emotionally.  My money demon is stronger than my desire to get big, it would seem.  More importantly though I realized that if I am going to spend $830 on a gym membership maybe I should figure out if there is anything I would rather spend $830 on that isn't a gym membership.

If the gym isn't even the top of my list of priorities then I ought to buy whatever is on top instead, and stop when my purchases stop making sense.

When I looked at it like that everything changed.  I can think of lots of things I would rather spend $830 on!  I would rather buy a bunch of board games and computer games.  I would rather buy flights to visit people far away.  I would rather get an awesome tattoo.

So if I have not yet done those things, then getting a gym membership makes no sense.  Once I reasoned this out and decided to just keep going to my building's crappy little gym I felt lots better.

Sometimes raw emotional reactions are a good clue to lead you to the correct decision.  One day I hope to be better at the skill of figuring out when to trust my impending sense of doom and believe that there are good reasons for it.