so - money and (vs?) happiness
Oct. 12th, 2005 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonInspired by this post over at Pandagon, distantly discussing this article about Bhutan's "new measure of well being" over at the NY Times (for some reason subscription not needed, so grab while the grabbin's hot).
It's ironic that I'm reading these posts about how money can't buy you happiness right after I've had one of my largest shopping sprees since, oh, 2002 (L.A. garment district, ah the memories!) :P While I fully agree that money is not the ultimate indicator of quality of life, I remember how easy it is to get caught up in that artificial cycle of covetousness. I think it was actually perpetuated by my time at Nordstrom, where it was not unusual to get limited numbers of certain "high style" items to spur sales. The pressure to "buy NOW!" was very seductive, especially with an employee discount. Even now, I sometimes have to fight this artificial idea of scarcity that if I see something I like in a store, I must get it now, or risk losing it forever. Case in point (success): the Serenity script book. It will be there tomorrow, it will be on Half.com in 6 months at half price, but I had to remind myself of that!
I've scaled back in recent years, initially due to circumstance, but I notice that I miss certain "necessaries" less and less often. I don't need new clothes every single "season", I don't need to own every single book I want to read, I don't need the latest/greatest/most kick ass anything - I need just enough. (And this post isn't meant to be insensitive to people who really *are* living close to the edge, not able to pay bills or living out of their car. I'm talking about not going into debt trying to keep up with the Joneses). Things like having the house professionally cleaned, massages/pedicures and hair color haven't even been on the radar for some time - they're nice, but if I want it that bad I can do it myself.
What would really make me happy that requires $ would be to 1) travel more, because I'd like to see family and friends more often, because there are so many cities/ruins/art/etc. I want to see I've already decided I need to live a damn long time to see it all 2) health, so as to enjoy all this travel, and 3) education, so I'll know enough to enjoy all the cool things I'm seeing and cool people I'm talking to.
What "mad spending" can you justify in your own life to achieve real happiness?
It's ironic that I'm reading these posts about how money can't buy you happiness right after I've had one of my largest shopping sprees since, oh, 2002 (L.A. garment district, ah the memories!) :P While I fully agree that money is not the ultimate indicator of quality of life, I remember how easy it is to get caught up in that artificial cycle of covetousness. I think it was actually perpetuated by my time at Nordstrom, where it was not unusual to get limited numbers of certain "high style" items to spur sales. The pressure to "buy NOW!" was very seductive, especially with an employee discount. Even now, I sometimes have to fight this artificial idea of scarcity that if I see something I like in a store, I must get it now, or risk losing it forever. Case in point (success): the Serenity script book. It will be there tomorrow, it will be on Half.com in 6 months at half price, but I had to remind myself of that!
I've scaled back in recent years, initially due to circumstance, but I notice that I miss certain "necessaries" less and less often. I don't need new clothes every single "season", I don't need to own every single book I want to read, I don't need the latest/greatest/most kick ass anything - I need just enough. (And this post isn't meant to be insensitive to people who really *are* living close to the edge, not able to pay bills or living out of their car. I'm talking about not going into debt trying to keep up with the Joneses). Things like having the house professionally cleaned, massages/pedicures and hair color haven't even been on the radar for some time - they're nice, but if I want it that bad I can do it myself.
What would really make me happy that requires $ would be to 1) travel more, because I'd like to see family and friends more often, because there are so many cities/ruins/art/etc. I want to see I've already decided I need to live a damn long time to see it all 2) health, so as to enjoy all this travel, and 3) education, so I'll know enough to enjoy all the cool things I'm seeing and cool people I'm talking to.
What "mad spending" can you justify in your own life to achieve real happiness?
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