Diminishing Returns

Diminishing Returns (not in the pure economic textbook sense) applies to all things in life. Any subject matter will eventually saturate the psyche despite the pleasantness of the subject. Take ice cream as an example. I’m telling you, I could eat five gallons of French vanilla ice cream right now. My taste buds say I can, but we all know that I will wuss out after one gallon, max. At first, each spoonful of frozen goodness will be cause for salivatory celebration. Towards the end, I’ll scornfully stare at each bite and force it down my throat. The trick is to find the bite that represents maximum pleasure and take enough bites afterward to sustain the happiness, but not so many as to diminish the entire ice cream experience as a whole.

I can’t count how many times I scorn the Law of Diminishing Returns when I go shopping. Who doesn’t like to shop? Time and time again it gets to the point where I tell myself, “My feet are tired. I’m hungry. My pockets are empty.... just one more store.” I hit that last store in a damn foul mood and by the time I get home I look back on the day with jade-tinted glasses. I should stop while I’m ahead and return home with that oh-so-exhausted-yet-productive glow.

I’m pretty good at judging my tolerance for personal interactions. Tonight Silver Queen, El-Sea, and I are going over to my mother’s for dinner. We will talk, eat, and talk some more. Eventually though, conversational pauses will become more frequent. If we continue to force the evening then the subject maters will wear thin and we will sit around nodding polite smiles at each other. Part of being a good guest is watching for these signs and graciously bowing out before my presence becomes a nuisance.

Even this blog entry serves as proof of the all-encompassing Law of Diminishing returns. I could add four more supportive examples using the media, alcohol, the internet, and superglue. Would those subjects assist in further development of my ponderings or would they bloat this entry past its usefulness?

Knowing the limits defined by the Law of Diminishing Returns will make life less stressful.
...and so it was written, shenry at 3/26/2003 04:25:00 PM.
...and so it was appended with .