Due to things which have come up in my personal life recently, I have been thinking about material possessions and how I as an individual view them.
I started a new job in August but the enhancements started coming in as of November and they have allowed me to spend more on myself , family and friends than I have been able to do in a very long time. It isn’t a lot, its much less hours but for more money because i work night shift which has its draw backs and my health is certainly starting to show this!
So I guess I have to ask my self, at what point do we stop and really take stock of what is really important to us ? Should it not be health and happiness rather than wealth? Wealth can have so many differn’t forms in life, wealth in that you have meaningful friendships and relationships rather than what you can do and where you can go? I mean, a wee night in with the girls watching a good movie and sharing a bottle of wine or coffee.. does it have to mean being at the pub or a restaurant? does the quality of our conversation change because of the settings that we find ourselves in? i doubt t in the slightest.
Don’t get me wrong, I love nothing better than getting dressed up for a night out with the girls but i also like having those conversations that aren’t interrupted by music, or waiting staff or being expected to buy something in order to stay longer.
I often find myself thinking, well if I have more money, it means more trips away and doing things that i wasn’t able to do before. Why can’t happiness be at home or other peoples homes? Walks in the forest, ect? I think I get caught up in the media and advertising. The latest”group on” dinner deals or spa breaks.. I have a friend who is a massage therapist and another good friend who is an amazing cook. Why do i need to buy these things? Why do i need to go to the gym to lose weight when I have a dog, weights at home and a field that I can run in? Cause I am a MUG. I don’t need that flat screen t.v on my wall in the living room and I sure as hell don’t need the one in the bedroom
I’ll tell you why… it goes back to the day of Henry Ford and and also the invention of the automobile. There was one car, one model, one color. Now we have a million different cars with a million different colors and most of all, we have CONSUMERISM! we want something and we want it now,we want it yesterday and we want service with a bull shit smile.
I look at the different things coming from my bank account and think… Do i really need these things? No, i don’t believe that I do.. I don’t need contact lenses, credit cards, store cards.. what I and everyone needs is good positive mental health. I think this is why we buy into consumerism, because we don’t feel fulfilled! This is where the media comes in , they prey on these insecurities with their promises of fulfillment and grandeur and you know what? i fall for these , hook line and sinker…
I have made my new years resolution and that is to improve my own mental health and to make a dent on the credit cards. I want to realise(although i know already,but want to live it) that good relationships and positive mental health is much more important than the latest this , that or the next thing.
