Why What You Have Will Always Be More Than What You Don’t Have

“If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.” —Oprah Winfrey

I’m lucky. Right now, my kids are at the age where they don’t ask me for things every time we’re at any store. The only thing they really ask me is to go to Chuck E. Cheese once every few days. Other than that, they seem pretty happy with what they have.

When we’re at at any retail store, they want to go to the toy section. They check out the toys, even play with them for a little bit, but they don’t ask me to buy it for them. Thank goodness they don’t cry or throw a tantrum when they don’t get what they want, at least for now.

My kids aren’t inhuman; they do want things. They want to play all the time, especially if it’s bedtime. They want to play with the same toy at the same time (and that’s when my wife or I have to play referee). Sometimes they want to eat a certain food (blueberries or granola) that we don’t currently have at home. But overall, they’re satisfied with what they have.

It’s something I admire about childhood. I wonder if we all were like that when we were younger and at some point, we learned to be greedy and selfish to a certain extent as we got older.

I know too many adults who are bitter because they aren’t happy with their life. It’s a tragedy in so many ways. Maybe we need to somehow go back to our youthful innocence and just be happy with what’s right in front of us.

As adults nowadays, it’s easy to look at what we don’t have because of what’s thrown in front of our faces. We see commercials, ads on TV or on social media, and we see what other people have. It’s very easy to compare what we have to what other people have or what we don’t have, but a lot of it is unnecessary.

Within reason, it’s good to have what we don’t have. Our goals and dreams are based on what we want, where we want to be in life, and the people we want to be. Beyond that, it’s greedy to want everything and envious to want everything that we don’t have.

It’s impossible to have every single physical thing out there, every new gadget, technology toy, or new product. It is possible to appreciate what you do have, which is always more than what you don’t have.

Roderick Conwi is a professional development coach and writes at Nourishment Notes about lifestyle development. He is also the author of The Procrastinator’s Quick Guide To Getting It Done. To get powerful insights that enhance your day, join his free newsletter.