Most of the time, I’m pretty happy in my own little world. I make a decent salary for someone my age, my expenses are pretty low, and I’m spending my money on the things that are really important to me, like saving and travelling. I have a great relationship with my husband, I work hard but not too hard, and I eat and drink well enough. I’m very happy in our three bedroom rental and even though our furniture is a bit on the shabby side, I don’t think I’ll be buying a new couch any time soon.
Sometimes though, every once in awhile, I get the consumption itch. I start noticing things that I usually ignore, like how shabby my couch is. I wish my place was a little nicer, I wish I had some nicer stuff. Usually, this isn’t fuelled by my own actual desire for stuff, but by my noticing other people’s stuff, or by feeling like my own home isn’t up to other people’s standards of what a home should look like.
Nice Things Won’t Bring Happiness
The thing is, I know on a logical level that buying things to impress other people is probably one of the worst uses of my money. I know that it won’t make me happier. I’ve had less stuff in my lifetime, and I’ve had more, and my happiness level has pretty much stayed the same throughout. Buying things to make my home more comfortable is one thing, but buying things to just make it look better won’t make me that much happier, and it’ll definitely hurt my wallet.
Unfortunately I can’t logic my way out of this desire to have nicer things in order to fit in, to feel more “normal” and to achieve the level of “nice stuff” that I used to expect from my life before I graduated from university. I know it won’t benefit me, but I want it anyway.
Consumerism still has it’s hold on me, even though I manage to ignore it the majority of the time. Breaking out of the habit of buying things = happiness is harder than it looks, and seeing all of the stuff everyone around me has only makes it worse.
Trying to keep up with the Joneses is a futile endeavour, about as helpful to my overall happiness as having a splinter. That said, trying to ignore the Joneses is just as tough, since it’s seems like the whole point of social media these days is to show each other how awesome our lives are.
So, for now, I will try and ignore this consumption itch as much as possible. I know it’ll pass, it always does, and if I don’t give in, I’ll be happier for it, and so will my wallet. Screw the Joneses.
Do you ever feel like you should have nicer stuff because “everyone else” does? How do you ignore this feeling?