What if we all decided to stop over-consuming?
I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately. And for me to think about it, it must be pretty serious because, I’m not going to admit to being a shopaholic, but, I certainly love to spend money. And I almost never need anything that I buy.
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In fact, I spend almost $300 a month on a storage unit to warehouse all the things that I didn’t need to buy and will never use. My four bedroom house has three bedrooms full of things that I didn’t need to buy and will never use.
Doesn’t that seem a bit ridiculous?
As you know from past articles, I fantasize about being a minimalist; although I’ve never been able to bring myself to do it. You see, all of that stuff, all of that stuff that I didn’t need to buy and will never use, is a sort of security blanket for me. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I grew up an American middle-class consumer, or maybe it’s just become habit. Or maybe I shop simply out of boredom.
Our modern world is so entertainment oriented that we no longer know how to just sit and be with ourselves. If the Wi-Fi is out, if your friends aren’t answering the phone, if you can’t think of anywhere to go, Amazon is always there for you.
No matter how bored one gets, there is always deliriously fabulous entertainment to be found in buying unneeded stuff on the Amazon app. I mean, seriously, what could be more fun than clothes shopping in your underwear on a Sunday afternoon while polishing off the rest of that chocolate bar that you started earlier in the morning?
If you can think of something more entertaining, please let me know.
But I am finally coming to the realization, or my dwindling savings account is coming to the realization, that I have to make a change. It’s finally time to do that inner work on whatever maladaptive coping mechanism has been singing the siren’s song, calling me into the arms of Amazon for so many years now.
The time has come for me to get serious about self-exploration, or at least serious enough to gain a little bit of self-control over my spending habits. To be honest, that’s probably where it will end.
But to get back to the original question; what if we did decide to stop over-consuming? What if we decided to buy only the things that we actually need rather than all of the things that we think we want?
Aside from collapsing the economy, would it make us happier? If I stopped spending a third of my day shopping for, and buying, things that I don’t need and, let’s be honest, don’t even want (and, if I survived the detox period) would I come out the other side a better adjusted person?
I think so. I mean, I’ve watched Eat, Pray, Love, and if it can work for her, why can’t it work for me?
Why wouldn’t my homebody version of a worldwide trip of self-exploration end with me being a more self-actualized and, frankly, more interesting person? I choose to believe that it would.
And so, here begins the grand journey. I mean, the worst that could happen is my bank account balance goes up. Sounds like a win-win.
So, cheers, my friends. And here’s to a future with less stuff and, hopefully, more savings.