As humans, we are constantly at battle between logic/rationality, and our own emotions/feelings.
Given that we are consumers by nature, everything about the modern world we live in revolves around consuming everything around us.
As technology advances, we naturally become victims to the ease at which everything becomes accessible.
Through platforms like social media, online dating, and even e-commerce, everything that once required a genuine effort to consume has been made instantly accessible at the touch of a button.
While there are benefits to technology that we use on a daily basis, there are an equal number of negatives that come along with it because for every positive, there is an equal and opposite potential negative.
The difference, however, is the mindset of the person that uses technology.
On one hand, the everyday consumer has it easier than ever before to be able to satisfy their immediate gratification.
On the other hand, we become easily influenced by everything that we choose to consume on a daily basis, which can have catastrophic long term effects.
In a nutshell, we become a product of what we consume.
When it comes to seeking some form of short term gratification, we can almost immediately correlate it to some feeling of emotion.
For example, we see something that looks cool online, it excites us for a moment so then we choose to buy it.
Do we actually need the thing?
Probably not.
Is it something that we are going to use 10 years from now?
Maybe, maybe not.
The point is, it struck a feeling of excitement in the moment and we chose to act on it without ever giving it any rational thought as to why we might need it.
This feelings-based emotional thinking is exactly what a majority of people suffer from today.
We just assume that because we are consuming something that it must be true without ever stopping to think about if what we are consuming actually holds any real weight behind it.
It makes sense to us in the moment, but would it actually make sense to us in the future?
This is the difference between rational/logical thinking and emotional thinking.
Rational decision making is drawn out process - it is a matter of taking multiple factors into account to come up with some sort of conclusion as to why something is the way that it is.
Another example is our biological fight or flight response.
When faced with an imminent threat, we can make one of two decisions: to fight, or to flight (run away from danger).
While both are reactionary responses in their own right to a degree, one is an immediate reaction, and the other is a reaction that requires some form of strategy for survival.
The flight response is a reactive response - it is like saying "oh shit, I am in danger, I need to get out of here!"
If we choose to fight however, our natural response becomes more along the lines of "oh shit, I am in danger, how can I overcome this?"
When we start asking ourselves the important questions (why, what, how, etc.) we begin to think rationally as to ways to overcome obstacles.
When we are faced with having to make a decision, the rational thought would be to take all matters into account: how will this effect me now? what is it that I am trying to accomplish? will this serve me in the future? how will this effect those around me?
While it seems like something might make sense now, does not mean that it will make sense in the future.
This is the long term effect that emotional thinking has on the human psyche, which is often how people end up regretting decisions they have made in their past as they continue to age into the future.
Men especially need to learn what it means to make rational decisions because men, by nature, are the logical thinkers between men and women.
Women are naturally more emotional beings and many of their decisions are made based off of how they feel in the moment, which, for the record, has plenty of benefits under certain circumstances.
Men on the other hand, need to be able to make the rational decisions if we are ever going to be leaders.
This is ultimately why men and women naturally balance each other out because the soft emotional side of a woman coupled with the firm problem solving mind of a man is one of the most powerful forces in the universe.
This is not a matter of one gender versus the other, rather it is a matter of understanding how both men and women can work together in unison for a greater purpose.