|
By Marc Meisfelt
Bangkok , August 2007 (1.2)
Most decisions each and everyone of us makes, are wrong. This is unfortunate, but hard to avoid.
I know that I am more aware of this than other people, and incidentally, I believe that it gives me an edge. Most people make wrong decisions all the time, and don't even realize it.
I am famous among my friends for changing my mind after I have decided on something, and often at the last minute. I have changed travel schedules an hour after having bought a non-refundable ticket; I have abandoned business projects after having invested into the necessary equipment; I have rented houses and paid in advance for a year (as required by local customs), and then used them for just two night.
All of this was bad luck. I don't regret how I decided in the end, only that I wasn't smarter a little bit earlier.
But I can't really compromise on one thing: where I want to live, even if it is causing me financial losses.
If one's decisions would just be about 30 percent right, one would be hugely successful in life. With a success rate of 30 percent, one would become immensely rich, live very long, have an extremely satisfying sex life... you name it.
That most of everybody's decisions are wrong, is not just a reality in the realm of human intellect. It's a reality even on the basis of evolution.
Genetic mutations are the evolutionary equivalent of decisions. Most mutations are irrelevant, and a few are really harmful. But a genetic mutation that is an evolutionary success is a great, great rarity. But when it happens... wow! It gives life a great turn to the better.
Even though I am aware of the small errors I am making all day, I can live with them. They are not relevant.
t is more important to get the big decisions right. However, because big decisions are based on small decisions, it isn't easy to work out in advance which decisions are going to be big correct decisions. In hindsight, we all are smarter (but on the other hand, most people don't care to look back and evaluate decisions).
Looking back at my life so far, I can spot the big right decisions: to become a journalist was one (and deciding that I would write my books in English when I was far from capable to do so); and to settle in Southeast Asia (probably the most important big decision I ever made); to embark on the sexual enhancement path (not to accept an age-related decline of sexual function); and to take far-reaching measures to improve my physical attractiveness through cosmetic surgery.
No, not Michael Jackson style, though his results were good initially. With cosmetic surgery, it is important not to overdo it, and I assume that Michael Jackson's current looks are a huge public statement against cosmetic surgery.
Mine would be an impressive statement in favor of cosmetic surgery, but I am not a public figure.
It's been difficult to make decisions about cosmetic surgery, and some of my decisions were not so good (their impact was limited), but most were right. Maybe I was saved from major wrong decisions because I made sure that the physicians knew that I am a writer. They therefore were more cautious selling their operations.
For we have to be aware of one thing: most physicians offering cosmetic procedures are almost only interested in the immediate financial gain.
Professional consultation? Surgeons who perform cosmetic procedures will always tell a patient that the procedures they offer can afford a definite improvement (though they always let you sign a form that explains that things can go wrong, and that in that case, they are not responsible).
And if you ask physicians who are not in the field of offering cosmetic procedures, you will usually be advised against it (as if they don't want to grant cosmetic surgeons the money these guys make).
Furthermore, admitting to facelifts always is a loss of face. The young women who enter love affairs with me because they consider me physically attractive, never know to what extent my attractiveness is the result of modern cosmetic procedures. If they would, the impact would certainly be negative. I tell them that I am 20 years younger than I actually am, and they don't doubt the truth of this claim.
Obviously, as my expertise is based on personal experience, I am smarter now than I was before I had my first cosmetic surgery. And if I would have had this knowledge before I started, I would have decided differently. Yes, I would have had most of the operations anyway. But in a different sequence (and some I would have left out).
In my opinion, it is important to have a long-term strategy. You don't just want one facelift. The challenge is to have a series of surgical interventions so that you always look no older than mid-30s, even if you are in your 50s or 60s, and that you can pass as in your 40s when you are above 70.
This is a realistic goal, provided you have a proper strategy. And this is what this site is about.
Our consultation in this respect is better than what you can get from a cosmetic surgeon you may ask. The cosmetic surgeon you ask will primarily be interested to sell his services, as much of them as possible, in as short a time-span as possible. For this reason, surgeons typically advise to have several procedures done in combination.
But there are solid reasons to go step-by-step, especially for procedures involving the face. For the healing process of any procedure can result in a slight asymmetries that can be softened in subsequent operations. Most people would not notice these asymmetries from operations as most faces anyway are not fully symmetrical. But as a rule of thumb, the more symmetric a face, the more attractive, and an optimal, not an almost optimal appearance, is what we re striving for.
|
