But in all of those cases, we focus on the shortcut, the proxy, rather than our true desire... As useful as these proxies can be most of the time, in decisions that truly matter, we must remember that they are only proxies. We must optimize for what we truly desire - wisdom, mentorship, faithfulness - rather than its proxy... Proxies are only useful if you know they are proxies.

This is often the consequence of experiencing emotional extremes within the same context: we crave the next high. Every valley makes us feel like the peak is going to get us a high we've never experienced before. And so we mindlessly chase it like an addict... Replace that drug with something deep and meaningful. Something that makes your heart sing, your eyes relax and your soul breathe a sigh of fulfilment.

Hypothetical situations can be helpful in prompting you to abstract out situations based on your experience, but used beyond that, they can hold danger: forcing you to give an answer to a situation that you have little prior experience with, an answer that you later find out is at odds at with your deeper moral compass.