Personal Narrative: The Paradox Of Choice

1. For my leisure activity, I chose to hike Warbler Woods, an environmentally significant area along the Thames River. Over the Thanksgiving long-weekend my dad and I drove over to Commissioners Road located in the west part of London, Ontario and hiked various trails for a total of five kilometers. The terrain was difficult with significant elevation but presented a fun challenge for my dad and I. Warbler Woods is a deciduous forest but also contains many different breeds of flowers and other plants which makes it a very scenic area. During our hike my dad and I also enjoyed bird watching, deer sighting and just appreciating nature. I do believe that hiking Warbler Woods with my dad constituted a leisure experience. In chapter one of the

I chose to participate in hiking five kilometers along the Thames Rivers with my dad because I enjoy being active and getting outside and I feel a sense of satisfaction and happiness when I am hiking in the woods. In the TED talk The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explored the idea of choice and said “The more choice people have, the more freedom they have, and the more freedom they have, the more welfare they have” (Schwartz, 2005). Barry’s idea suggests that more choice leads to more freedom and more freedom leads to health and happiness (Schwartz, 2005) and this idea relates to my hiking leisure experience. When I was taking a break from my studying I wanted to do an activity that was both fun and relaxing and my dad said he would take me out to do anything. Instead of limiting my options, my dad gave me freedom to choose whatever I wanted to do which helped me ultimately choose something fun and enjoyable. For example, if my dad were to tell me that the only options we had time for were going for a walk around the block or throwing around a ball, I would have had no freedom in my choice and it would of been limited which ultimately would have led to boredom and less interest in the activity and if I didn’t particularly want to do any of the options I wouldn’t have enjoyed my time. Having that freedom of choice allowed me to really think about what activity I was going to enjoy the most. My aims when I chose to hike were to feel happy, relaxed and renewed after a