Seems like the vast majority of the human species is striving for something. Which is probably a fine and good thing... but how often are we actually getting what we want out of our lives?
What makes me think about this is the way we often bust our butts to reach or have something... and then end up feeling either let down or empty when we finally accomplish our goal.
"It wasn't as good as I thought it would be..."
I think of my friend who scrimped and saved and finally bought a new Lexus... but within a month or so, the novelty had worn off, and she realized that her life was actually no better at all as a result of having the car.
Maybe it's because I have reached the age of "Old Fart-hood" that I increasingly recognize the difference between a sense of lasting contentment and the temporary "Dopamine high" people get from striving to have external stuff in their lives.
Marketers are — of course — extremely clever in the way they persuade us that our lives will be better/perfect if we "have" some particular object or experience. Sadly, in the vast majority of instances, that isn't how it turns out.
The other thing that's increasingly evident is the way "they" try to persuade us to want things we actually don't want but somehow there's enough FOMO attached to the state of not-having these things that people spend extensive effort and funds in their pursuit of them.
Yes, I'm a lousy "consumer." In fact, I have pretty much always been a lousy "consumer."
This leaves us with the question of how and where and when we derive our actual contentment in life.
Contentment is a pretty awesome thing to have; that sensation that you actually like your life, precisely as it is. And you have lots of gratitude for that.
I feel very content, crawling around with my camera, with my nose in plants and flowers; chasing butterflies and whatever else.
Does it serve any real purpose, aside from occasionally gracing the pages of this blog? I certainly don't get paid for taking pictures, and it definitely doesn't... produce... anything of significance to society.
But I feel pretty content.
Of course, being content doesn't necessarily mean that everything is perfect all the time, nor that there is never anything to complain about. Far from it!
And therein lies perhaps another fallacy we have been sold... that being happy is a state we can/should expect to sustain all the time.
Good luck with that!
I just enjoy my moments and I enjoy being (mostly) a non-consumer of so-called "consumer goods." It wasn't always so... as I can prove by all the "stuff" I am slowly divesting myself of, via eBay!
So, do I get pretty much everything I want out of my life? Honestly, I don't have very much I want to "get out of" my life... and that's working out pretty well!
Thanks for reading, and have a great rest of your week!
How about YOU? Are you getting what YOU want, out of your life? Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!
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Created at 20211025 23:24 PDT
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