I Just Need More Stuff–Don’t I?

In most Western cultures, we’ve been conditioned to believe that stuff = self-fulfillment.

We fall for the illusion that if and when we get a better (car, TV, gaming console, pair of shoes, house, crystal tiara), why, THEN we’d be happy! The problem is, once that initial thrill of acquisition wears off–and wear off it will–there’s always something new to long for. It’s like that old tortilla chip slogan: bet you can’t eat just one.

Does that mean stuff = bad? Of course not. Sometimes, an object is closely aligned with an activity or part of ourselves that brings us great joy, like a wonderful, well-used stock pot you love to use for gut-warming stews, a t-shirt that makes you smile every time you wear it, or a vehicle whose features enable you to do something you hadn’t been able to do before–like go off-road. But even in these cases, the value isn’t in the objects themselves, but the feeling states we reach while using them. If we thought about it, we could probably get to that same feeling state in a bunch of other ways that might not cost a dime.

Stuff is just stuff. Not good nor bad. Not happiness or despair. Stuff is like most of everything else in our lives: it means whatever we make it mean. For many of us, so much of that stuff we were sure would make us happy morphs pretty quickly into inanimate objects we never look at, use, or feel sentimental over.

Are you wondering how to declutter, or whether you’re addicted to the high of getting more stuff?  In this short video, Adam Baker from the website manvsdebt shares inspiration to help you break the addiction and free yourself from guilt, doubt and debt.

The good stuff is the stuff that feeds your soul, and THAT stuff could be animal, vegetable, mineral–or intangible. Take a look around your house. Take a look inside your heart. Let go of all that does not serve.