From the moment we open our eyes from a good night’s sleep until the moment we close them again to dream our night away, we are constantly consuming material items. We tend to buy things we don’t actually need. Even though we’re sometimes afraid to admit it, we buy items in the hope to expect social recognition from it. We also buy products to fill up that empty space in your heart.
Products are lifeless. Their only purpose is to serve you in a way people can’t. But then why do we expect them to still?
The stuff that you own doesn’t say about who you are as a person. A brand new purchase may give you an ecstatic feeling at first, but when the first shiny feature starts to wear off, so does that ecstatic feeling you had when you first laid eyes on a product.
And then, you can start over again. You start hunting for the next hot item- a new car, another designer bag, or even the newest model smartphone. You will keep consuming to the point where you no longer really care about what you actually want. Big advertisers can take over your brain. They try their best to tell you what you need in your life in order to make a sale.
There is no stopping point for the media. The media will continue to tell you with each changing season what’s in and what’s out. By giving in, you think you will decrease the chance of being left out. You will feel restless, yearning for meaning and purpose, which no possible product is able to fill .
You will feel more disconnected by each new purchase, only able to fill up space in your home.
Everyone is a consumer in a sense, but to stay in balance on that spectrum between an obsessive consumer and a minimalist, is to create value in return. For yourself and others.
Value connects people because it has the purpose to help each other to bring out the best into the world.
Find your own voice through the values which others have created.
You no longer will depend on things, expecting that it will make you happy. You will not depend on anything for you can create value yourself. Instead, buy things you really need and will definitely use.
Spending time with your loved ones and adding value to each other’s lives with the thought of being the best version of yourself each day is the best gift anyone can buy.
Instead of taking up space for unnecessary things, make an effort to make more room and take time for the things you love to create and for the people who matter to you.
The things that ask energy from us that we enjoy doing, give us at the end more energy, while the things we like to consume and ask nothing of us in return – guess what – will wary us out and give us nothing valuable in return that helps us grow further.
We become better people by consuming less.
And we become even better when we put our time and energy into wholesome activities that help us grow and improve ourselves as a person. To cultivate the kind of energy that we spread around into the world that can heal and inspire others.
