I'm very guilty of having a terrible case of the gimmies. I've started to notice it happening more and more recently. I want everything. I want so many material things, and it's starting to get to me. I hear myself saying "want" and "need" way too much lately. It's like when you realize that someone says "like" a lot when they speak, and you start to cringe more and more each time they say "like." I know it's started to bother my boyfriend too, because I am easily slipping into this culture of it never being enough. I buy one thing, just to think of all the other things I want. I don't like how much my brain is overwhelmed with thinking of material things.
I need to start focusing on what I do have. I have an AMAZING family, a near-perfect boyfriend (I don't want his head to get too big), a great network of friends, a great job with great co-workers, and a wonderful collection of hobbies that make me feel good about myself, not to mention I have my health, my youth, and I live in a lovely part of Philadelphia with my amazing boyfriend. In this culture of consumerism, where we are constantly told that trends change and you need to stay up with them and "YOLO" and try the new Starbucks drink and get this new phone and buy buy BUY it's easy to start comparing your life to others and realizing that they have things you don't.
One of the first things I do when I wake up is check Facebook on my phone. I don't even share things on Facebook that often, but I have this sick obsession with seeing what other people are up to, and it KILLS me to see so many of my friends going on these amazing vacations in these amazing clothes with amazing bodies eating amazing food. I need to stop. I would love nothing more than to travel somewhere with my boyfriend, but right now, that kind of expenditure isn't in the cards. So instead, I go and I buy myself a new top or a new pair of shoes because it makes me feel better. Because that's what we've been fed for so long: If you wear the new trend, if you go to the expensive gym and drink the expensive cold-pressed juice you too will feel good.
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| From Erin Hanson's "Need to Want Less" collection |
For too long I have been trying to throw things (money) into a hole inside myself. It's not more clothes and more things that I need, it's peace of mind. I need to live more in the moment and look to the future. That top that I want may make me happy for a few days, but it wears off. Knowing that I'm enjoying everyday and saving for a future where I can afford the life I want for my family and myself needs to become my primary thought.Buzzfeed recently had a great list that is not only relevant to how I feel right now, but it also helped remind me that I do have a lot of things in my life that make me happy for free. It's called 20 Reasons Money Won't Make You Happy. Check it out it's really funny and true, like the reason below:
9. Because hard work pays off in more than just $$$.
…such as experience, self-fulfillment, and popularity (duh).
I need to eliminate the word want from my vocabulary for a while. Because I can say something is pretty or nice without saying that I want it. I need to let the people in my life know that they are everything I want, and the rest is just stuff.
Are you guilty of the gimmies?
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