The emotionally fueled shopping sprees and impulsive buying, the thrill of a new dress ,new make up to add to my ever growing pile of unused cosmetics. Did I ever think I could possibly sway the other way to a minimalist life? NO… never.
That was until I started to really research this topic and
understand why a person would want less. In my early twenties as many do, I had
decided to grab a overly sized back pack one small suitcase and travel! Around Europe!
I was a backpacker to be brief. During this moment of my life I had come to realized just how little I actually needed.. (now the key word here is needed )
to live.
After 6 countries and many hostels I realized less is
actually more. I wanted to rid of the extra kgs I had been lugging around with
me, much being items I had not used over the entire duration of my travels.
To give you a better understanding of my work then shop slavish
habits, I had spent majority of my teenage years working casual customer
service jobs, a cashier or retail assistant, as soon as that pay came into my
bank account it was as though the dollars were on fire. I had to spend it. Some
call this “stripper money” it just fly’s out of your hands. Money badly spent on impulses. Things that
eventually did not matter to me and provided minimal value to my life.
Backpacking taught me a great life lesson, regardless of
where you are in life and what you are doing you most likely won’t need those
things you have spent many years obtaining they will gather dust in your room
or apartment and eventually find their way on ebay, earning you little less
than 40% of what you paid for the item. So don’t waste your time spending then trying
to rid of things your spending has gathered.
The older I got the more income I received and I developed a
taste for less is more, this new lifestyle of mine developed into a thought process of "if I spend less on 50 hand
bags I can save and purchase 1 -2 luxury hand bags!"
Needless to say, I reached my goal, I had my dream hand bag.
The thing was that It didn’t make me feel any better as a person and the bag didn’t
feel any different than any of the other bags I owned at the time. It was just
a bag. Like all the others a physical object that served its purpose. I felt slightly gypped. That was life lesson
number 2, luxury items are just that. Beautiful, great quality items but they won’t
make you feel better, they won’t make your life of any better value. You will
just hold another item.
Through my experience the best place for investment is in yourself, your
mind, your education even your beauty. Because regardless of where you are in
the world and what you are doing or aspiring to do , you will always bring
yourself ,not your belongings.
You are your greatest investment! x-o-x
image courtesy of http://the-fit-foodie.com/top-5-nutrition-myths-busted/
No comments:
Post a Comment