Hoarding Happiness
A while back, we shifted out of a rented apartment into our own house. There was an interesting lesson in that experience that extends a previous article on finding happiness:
Shifting houses meant cleaning, sorting, packing, throwing, selling, and moving an unexpectedly large amount of possessions gathered over the years. Clothes, kitchenware, furniture, and sundry items filled up two trucks.
As I went through that tiring exercise, I wondered to myself: why have we hoarded so much?
Clothes in my closet that haven’t seen the light of day in years. Engineering equipment from when I was a student fifteen years ago. Old books, read and unread, not touched in years. Decades old documents, faded and unreadable. Used up candles. Greeting cards. Broken watches. Defunct mobile phones, tablets, keyboards, computer mice. Dead batteries. We all have that special drawer for keeping junk that might just be useful someday!
Do we accomplish more by having more? The more clothes I buy, the longer it takes to pick out something to wear. The more food I stock up in my fridge, the more I eat.
The more we have the more we want.
The more we gather physically the heavier we get mentally.
The heavier we get mentally the less we grow spiritually.
Creature comforts let us feel settled, stable, accomplished. Accumulation of money, clothes, furniture, gadgets, vehicles, houses, and the fat on our bodies makes us less willing to give any of it up to explore new possibilities. Endless accumulation is a comfort zone. We resist new, uncomfortable things. Like taking up a better job, but in a different city, or moving to a new country, or sometimes, just stepping out of the house to get work done that can be put off. We resist our full potential. Only in hindsight we learn that we accomplished less of what mattered in our pursuit of more matter.
Accumulation is also driven by the social need to signal prosperity. Happiness may lead to prosperity, but prosperity does not ensure happiness.
This is not to say everyone should be an extreme minimalist. I am suggesting from experience that our infinite drive for accumulation of material wealth in an attempt to hoard happiness is detrimental to our mental and spiritual wellbeing in the long run. We may think being comfortable will lead to happiness, but the most it might give us is momentary joy.
To put it simply, think more before you purchase, less before you declutter. Clothes that don’t fit can be given to the needy. Spare electronics can be useful to the less privileged. Old books can be donated to a library. Extra furniture can be sold. Life can be simplified without giving up creature comforts.
Not being bogged down by excess clutter, cleaning, maintenance, and choice will reduce stress and improve performance. Being more efficient, focused on more significant pursuits, will let us accomplish more, and come closer to finding happiness.
