How to Rationalize Anything

Or “How I bought an insane thing and want to feel justified about it.”

I would hope that anyone old enough to drink has at least heard the phrase, “humans are not rational, they rationalize.” We do things because we want to. We come up with the logical reasons, afterward. Not always, of course (not least because the words “always” and “never” only rarely apply to human behavior), but it’s a common thing.

A while back, I decided I wanted a reclining office chair because my computer is also my TV. Something that sits up for work and leans back for recreation would be very nice. I wasn’t very happy with my first attempt. It’s sitting the garage. I went back to the Aeron chair, which is starting to show its age.

I tripped over this chair in a meme post:

which reminded me of the Ready Player One style chair I saw on Amazon. In the post linked above, I called it the “$4000 beast”. I looked it up, again. It’s now a $2000 beast.

Neither one of us (The Laird and myself) are very good at talking ourselves out this sort of thing, so I asked him what he thought. “That’s about what I’m spending on my next tattoo,” was his answer. I bought the chair.

Now I need to wait 4-5 weeks for delivery, which will probably be 6-8 weeks here in the wilds of South Dakota.

Here’s a list of rationalizations. Bonus points if you can figure out which were post facto.

• I want a new – good – office chair. The current one is showing its 20 year age; “want” will soon become “need”.
• I want an office chair that is comfortable for watching video. If I adjust the Aeron chair for comfortable video-watching, it’s too laid-back for work – and that particular adjustment is time consuming (one must tighten/loosen a turning/screwing thing that changes very little on each revolution).
• A new Aeron chair will cost around $1000, anyway. This is just two of them.
• I wanted a cool looking office. I didn’t end up with one. It’s not “ugly”, but it isn’t “cool looking”, either. This chair will change that.
• My desk is littered with junk. Having a desk that tilts when I recline the chair will keep it clutter free. If nothing else, the junk will slide off onto the floor when I recline the chair.
• Is $2000 really too much to pay for something that I will use for hours, every day?
• Is $2000 really too much to pay for something that will make me smile every time I see it (at least for the first few months and anytime someone else sees it)?
• We wanted this space to be “done” before we moved into it. In addition to the monitor that will need to be pried from my cold, dead hands, I’ve got two more (attached Raspberry Pis) that are on a rickety shelf. They need “real” mounting.
• I’m tired of putting my feed up on my desk while watching videos. I want something comfortable.

I could go on, but you get the point. We can always come up with reasons to do what we want to do, anyway. I don’t see any harm in that, as long as one realizes what one is doing.

Now I want a beer. Anyone want a list of reasons?