How I Finally Beat Materialism
the world is a scary place to be in.
the things that we consider normal are actually things that the people higher up want us to think is normal.
we have been shaped into who we are by constantly giving our selves away to the media. Look at all the things it wants us to see, to be.
you need to be pretty, and to be pretty you need this product.
you need to fit in, and in order to fit in you have to be this way, you have to like this stuff.
in order to be cool, you have to afford the things you actually can’t. Influencers are wearing it so why don’t you?
isn’t all that painful? And haven’t we all been a victim?
It does nothing but harm to our soul. It feeds the beast within us to keep chasing an illusion.
oh, if I owned this I’d be liked. I’d be cool. Then I’d be happy.
We give so much space of our precious energy to this delusion. These material possessions don’t exactly add value to our life.
We get so caught up in this rat race that we don’t even stop to think about what our purpose on earth really is. I could tell you, but will you listen?
“it didn’t satisfy the way you thought it was going to satisfy”
- Tony Hale, actor“I had bought into the not uncommon notion that when I taste success, when I get over there. Then, I’ll be happy.
But the strangest thing happen. As the show got more successful, I got more depressed”
- Josh Radnor, actor of How I Met Your Mother“I thought it would be good to be rich and famous.
it’d be good to be the opposite of this.
it’d be good to have stuff, to have money.
it’d be good to be invited to a party.
and I’ve been in them. I’ve seen the other side of the looking glass.
it ain’t effing worth it.
it’s not — it don’t feed your soul.
I still feel empty inside.”
- Russell Brand, comedian, actor, author and activist“I had everything a man could want. Even then.
I was a millionaire. I had a beautiful woman in my life.I have cars and house. And a solid career. And a future.
Yet on a daily basis I wanted to commit suicide”-Eric Claptop, rock and blues guitarist, singer and songwriter
“The media told me everyday, and it’s telling you everyday what it is to be successful.
So you got MTV Cribs, you got billionaires in front of your face
you have these external goals that will say
‘Oh Tom Shadyac has arrived. he has the right house, he has the right car, he flies privately.’
And when I got there it was empty.”
-Tom Shadyac, comedian, director, screenwriter, producer, author
So what makes one content? I could tell you, but will you listen?
let me show you a part of who I used to be back in 2016.
I was a material hoe.
I wrote down things that occupy my mind. I didn’t have a lot of money, I was in college.
But I forced myself to buy these things. If you look at the date, their gaps aren’t long. Which means I was constantly thinking about these material things that I want in my life.
I would go to sleep thinking about them.
I would wake up thinking about them.
Thinking about how I could buy them.
I was that person throughout my senior high up to my last year of college.
and in 2017 I turned into someone else. Someone who’s finally aware of the hole she’s been in.
It took years for me to realize.
she never meant to tell me, I guess?
I had a best friend back in my boarding house in college. We still are.
She was so good with money. She has always had her head on her shoulder in terms of finance.
She always says that she has to have at least IDR 3.000.000 in her account just in case.
That hit me. It hit me with jealousy. Not at the amount of money. But the way she handles her financial life.
I tried saving to her, didn’t work.
I tried to budget, didn’t work.
because I was constantly wanting things and figuring a way out to have them so I would take the money from my budget or from my savings. I was not committed. I was not mentally prepared.
Until finally one night. I was alone in my room.
I took my wallet out and took out some paper clips and plain paper.
I started to budget.
I would write down my essentials on the plain paper and cut it. And then attach it to the amount of money that is written on the paper.
Gas: 20K
Phone bill: 100K
Food: 400K
Misc: 30K
Save: 50K
that was basically my weekly budgeting.
And I did it. I stuck to it. And up until today, I’ve been saving. I even opened up a saving account.
that happened because I fixed the way I think. The error was not external. It was and will always be internal. Up inside our own heads. Our brain is like an operating system. If it’s damaged, it can’t run well.
The famous Marie-Kondo,
helped so much in fixing my mental state.
it lead me into throwing things away.
I literally, one evening, started to sort my stuff and donated it to whoever wanted it in our boarding house. And it was gone within minutes. I felt great.
When I entered their room I would look at their closets and clothes will just be everywhere. wow, I am really making a change in my life. I thought.
So I went on with my life the Marie-Kondo way, it just started snowballing from there.
I started watching The Financial Diet on YouTube.
I started to get more spiritual and this helps so much.
and by 2019,
all of my clothes can fit into one luggage.
I wear abayas only, and so far I own:
2 occasional abayas (one was a gift, one was a DIY)
4 daily abayas wear (two was sewed by my mom, two was bought)
.
it does not bug me at all that people say I don’t have other clothes.
it does not bug me at all.
I have enough.
and that’s enough for me.
another cool this is my bathroom supplies:
I collect soaps from my dad’s travel bag, he usually took hotel soaps and I have been using them ever since.
I’m not saying that I don’t want to buy things. It’s just that I’m more conscious of what I buy.
the point is,
even though I want it, but if I don’t need it… Then I don’t buy it.
I have three lipsticks and I don’t plan on buying a new one unless I run out of the three of them. I can work with what I have.
I’ll use what I have until it expires. Until it breaks.
Things I buy are of value, not of prestige.
I learned to live off of what I have and feel enough.
As long as I have food to eat, a roof over my head, and a perfectly healthy body and soul. I am perfect.
Because I have found the meaning of life.
I have found the purpose of life.
And it is way more than anything the world could possibly ever offer me.
I could tell you what it is, but will you listen?
