Phase One
Shop To Reduce Feeling Of Dissatisfaction
Phase Two
Become Dissatisfied Again, Pitch It All
Phase Three - Repeat
Blind submission to consumerism creates many sad effects.
The creation of dissatisfaction in the masses by the advertising industry is one of them.
In consumer culture, one quickly finds out that the things we spend money on provide only fleeting relief from this effect.
The consumer must constantly buy things or "experiences" to ward off that nagging sense of dissatisfaction, while simultaneously ridding one's home of the things previously bought that have failed to inspire, or have broken or worn out.
We get caught in a loop, or death spiral, of chronic dissatisfaction.
There is an alternative.
Simplicity breaks the loop utterly and completely. It exposes the lies, and provides sustainable satisfaction in perpetuity.
I have always hated shopping - if my home hadn't been flooded out I would most likely still be using/wearing things purchased thirty years ago. I do have three handknit sweaters from Ireland that were stored away in mega ziplock bags (I know, I know - plastic) and survived. They have been my stalwart winter companions since 1977 - they keep me warm in prairie winters; I maintain and care for them with love - we share a mutually symbiotic relationship. The whole minimalism movement astounds me, especially those who have to declutter several times a year - the solution seems pretty simple to me: if you don't want to have to shift it out, don't bring it in. I think I am getting grumpy in my old age . . .
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to wear out a black t-shirt I have had for decades. It is still hanging in there. I have an old pair of leather hiking boots that I bought in the 80s that I tried to retire a few years back, thinking they were too worn to wear. But, no, I still use them regularly.
DeleteBy now, like you and your beautiful (and functional) sweaters, those items have become my comfortable friends.
It is amazing how little one needs to get by. Linda and I have never owned as little as we own now, and we are loving it.
I am still aiming to die with only a shoe box, or small backpack, of possessions to my name. A 10,0000 sq ft house filled with things I don't need or want is not my idea of freedom. In life, or death.
People like you and your aficionados, myself included, end up being considered eccentric. Chic people pay a lot to look like us with their artificially torn and aged jeans and boro patched garments. My friend said to me, "You have the strangest shoes". Old sneakers with the tongue cut out and no laces = slip-ons for the garden. I think one needs to have one decent outfit to wear when going out or risk dreams about being naked in a crowd.
ReplyDeleteDuring a pandemic and quarantines, do people dream of being naked alone?
DeleteThat used to be me till I said enough! Now I buy only what I need. Any clothes I get now are hand me downs. It makes me sick sometimes when I think of all that money I wasted trying to feel satisfied. My goal right now is to save enough to retire in 8 years.
ReplyDeleteHaving that realization is a beautiful thing. Freedom! Good luck with your goal. I am all for retirement as soon as possible.
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