What requirements do we create to ensure a “good time” or the best outcome?  I wonder…

If you are a teenager, a high-school teacher or the parent of the same, you are well aware it is Prom season. As if the stress of Prom – Am I going? Will I have a date? Who will ask me? – were not enough, consider the additional stress regarding  attire and props. More specifically, what does a teenager spend on a Prom dress, tuxedo, dinner, flowers … the whole Prom shebang. The price can be staggering.

Listening to a popular radio show, I was stunned by the biggest cost of Prom, the dress. Or perhaps better said, the amount teenagers (or parents) are spending for a Prom dress. Girls are donning $500 – $1,000 dresses for the prom experience. Yes, I said Prom, a high-school formal dance … not marriage.  Maybe everyone is not spending this amount; but the averages are in the hundreds.  Callers from other areas offered new ideas about low cost options, including off-season purchases, second and third round sales, being one-pointed about outcome, and a good old fashion “budget” – you have X amount of dollars to spend.

My curiosity around prom dress spending extends to a broader question. What items do we typically require to ensure the best outcome?  How do we condition ourselves into thinking that – in this example – I need to spend $500 for a Prom dress and this expense will equate to a great time. This situation appears unconscious and just scratches the surface of a western epidemic concerning authentic joy. What ingredients create  authentic joy?

Does a great prom experience require an expensive dress? How does this example relate to all life experiences?  I wonder.