Before You Buy a Watch, Ask Yourself If You're Reacting to Anxiety

Slate chose Marc Maron's WTF podcast with Louis C.K. the best podcast ever. On it, Louis says a therapist told him that next time he's about to do something compulsive that he fears he'll regret, say "in the moment" that you're reacting to anxiety. It might help.

I just tried the technique. I'm not sure it helped or not. I'll get back to you later. 

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Comments

[jonnybardo]

I don't think I buy watches out of anxiety, or at least if I do then it isn't so directly linked. It might be deep existential anxiety that filters through as a need/want to acquire more things, but I don't feel anxious and then flip open the computer to browse for watches and then buy the first thing that catches my eye to ease my anxiety.

But I would say that the need/want to buy a watch partially, even largely, stems from a kind of deep-rooted existential emptiness and accompanying desire to "fill the void" with surrogate grails. Even the glimmer and aesthetic of a watch has a grail-like quality, as does the form of a beautiful woman. It is something of a specific flavor of beauty and aesthetic pleasure, and I would argue that we have a legitimate need to experience beauty as a kind of "lesser grail," an echo of the True Grail. That's why the watch quest is endless: any watch can only ever be a surrogate for the real thing (which is not a "thing").

[Gary]

I think excessive buying and selling indicates impulsive behavior. Regarding buying, if there is not some limited-time deal going on, it would probably better to chew on it for several days or a week before pulling the trigger. With selling, I think an even longer timeout period is advisable. Put the watch in a drawer for a month or two and then decide if it's a keeper or should go on the auction block.

Regarding buying expensive Grails, try to limit the price range to the level that will avoid divorce. Unless you have unlimited money, you'll have to limit what you pay for a watch (or a collection of watches). Jeff's limit is a couple of notches above mine, and Jonny's is even farther above mine. The limits of both of you seem to have grown steadily over the past couple of years. At some point, unless you win the lotto, you will probably reach a cap.

Fortunately, I get just as much enjoyment out of the $150 G-Shock that I just bought for $51 (Amazon Lightnight Deal) as I do from any of my more expensive watches. I don't feel the need to go constantly go higher and higher in price, which is a good thing since I don't have the money to do so.