There are many life lessons that we as humans learn along our journey. Some lessons we learn early and we learn once, never to be forgotten. Lessons like, don't grab hot things off the stove or look both ways before crossing the road are ingrained early.
Then there are the life lessons which happen later. These are a little harder to learn. For me it's lessons like, if you eat a lot of sweets you will gain weight. (Sigh, but NUTELLA!!!) Or lessons like, if you procrastinate, you will become stressed and may be courting future regrets. (Ugh.)
But the number one life lesson which I need to continually re-learn is Quality Over Quantity. In a world which is constantly trying to sell you, this can be easily learned and then quickly forgotten.
It's difficult to avoid the selling that is being thrown at us every day in both subtle and blatant ways. I look out our kitchen window while preparing a meal and see a big billboard advertising something new every month. I run a search online, and I get "sponsored responses" to my query. I want to buy a shirt. Well, good luck finding one without a logo or name-brand written in such a way to be obnoxious and turn me into a walking advertisement.
Some of the selling we encounter each day is directly selling a physical product but more often the selling is subtle and destructive. Perhaps the most insidious example is when companies want to sell you the idea of your own inadequacy. They want to convince you that you are deeply flawed. That your life is lacking. That you can't be happy without xyz item. After all, how can they sell you something if you feel that you don't need anything?
Only after a company has convinced you that you are not beautiful enough, awesome enough, rich enough, famous enough, or successful enough will they kindly offer you the perfect, magical, overnight solution to their carefully crafted and make-believe problem. And it will amazingly cost you JUST $99.99!
I find that for me, when I start to think that I "neeeeed" something, it's important to take a beat. When I start to question my life, I remember to look within, not without. I ask myself, "Is this message of inadequacy coming from me? Or is it coming from messages I am being bombarded with from the outside world?"
Only you know what is right for you. I can't tell you what you truly need, but for me, buying a "fix" to "problems" like the newest mat lipstick to make me more beautiful, or upgrading my car so that I will "look more successful" only introduce more complications to my life and never solutions.
The reason? Well, NEWS FLASH! No one cares what I drive and no one would notice the mat lipstick. And guess what? You are just as free of these outside opinions as I am! Seriously. No one's opinion but your own matters.
That great quote by Eleanor Roosevelt comes to mind. "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." This is wise and timeless advice. So before you follow the mindless path of adding quantity to your life, spend a minute considering the quality. Will that lipstick add quality to your everyday life? Or will it just add clutter to your bathroom and unnecessary stress to your already streamlined morning routine? Is that car a necessary purchase that will add quality to your life? Or will it get you from point A to point B just like your current mode of transportation does but at twice the cost?
What life lesson do you find matches a minimalist life? Any advice for staying focused on quality?
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