It’s Thanksgiving. Seems surreal, right?
Thanksgiving in 2020?! This year has been anything but good.
Or has it?
We are alive; We are breathing; We are reading this. Isn’t it something to give thanks for, something to be grateful for?
It will be an understatement to say that, this year has taught us the importance of Important Things: Health, family, air, savings, and common sense.
We learnt the life lessons in a hard way —having good health is pivotal. During hard times the family will always be there. One should always save for tomorrow, and breathe and live with common sense.
While we are glad, we can see the error in our ways; this isn’t the only wrong thing we have been doing. Today we are going to talk consumerism and how it has taken over the world.
Consumerism boon or bane?
Today everything is available to everyone. Due to increased access and availability and better living standards, most humans can afford most stuff. We love buying. We love our shopping. The more we buy, the more things we seem to need. Fueled by advertising and marketing and our misbelief that buying new stuff—such as clothes, bags, shoes, gadgets etc. will make us happy, we hoard things. We buy often, and we buy unnecessary stuff.
What we fail to understand is, this overdrive of consumerism is terrible. It’s bad for humans. It’s worse for the economy and worst for the environment.
Bad for humans
The more useless stuff you buy, the more money you waste. Your hard-earned money which you could have used for something better such as travelling, learning, investing, savings, or charity. Most of the times, you are spending a lot of money on buying a ton of things that is either an addition to what you already own or its something fancy or something useless.
This over-indulgence is preventing humans from seeing and feeling true happiness and peace. We are constantly looking for things and buying them and then wanting some more again. We are never content with what we have, and this unsatisfiable greed leads to an inferiority complex, debt, lying, stealing, depression, anxiety and much more.
Worse for the economy
Consumerism is directly linked to the GDP. Such that increase in consumerism results in an increase in GDP of a country. This may sound good now, but it’s not sustainable in the future.
Why?
Because it’s a linear economy, any economy following this path is going to fail. We have to create an economy, a circular economy that is sustainable in the future for the next generation.
Worst for the environment
Over consumerism results in overproduction. So to manufacture all the stuff you need (Or think that you need), we need more raw materials, more energy. The amount of waste generated during the production, and once the lifecycle of the product is complete, is beyond imagination. Did you know, the Textile Industry is the second biggest cause of pollution on the planet?
This is the price of our excessive consumerism. A planet on fire and destruction, and humans on the brink of addiction and vanity.
We are getting everything but at what cost? To sustain the future, we have to stop our overindulgence. We have to think beyond ourselves and start thinking as a community, as a whole. Is this the planet you want to leave for your children and grandchildren?
The truth is simple. We can live happily with a few things. We shouldn’t compromise our comfort and happiness, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you buy hundreds of clothes, innumerable shoes, and a bunch of junk sold online, which looks lovely and fashionable, but in reality, will clutter your home and mind.
Is Minimalism the answer?
“The minimalist lifestyle is about living with only the things you need. Minimalists are free from the desire to buy and accumulate more. Instead, they find happiness in relationships and experiences.” – Joshua Becker
Minimalism is about more people and fewer things. Fewer things mean fewer expenses and more experiences; its less worry and more space. It’s about loving people and using things, instead of the other way around.
Don’t let things blind you. Start being grateful for the small things, for the important stuff. For the air you breathe, the clean water you drink, the nutritious food you eat, the family you have, and the health you are blessed with.
This thanksgiving is genuinely a great day to start being grateful and start making changes in your life to become happy.
After all, our true happiness lies within us.
Dedication
We, at The Panel Station, want to dedicate this post to The COVID-19 Warriors. For all the healthcare workers, essential workers, and law enforcement officers for being the vanguard in the war against the coronavirus.
We thank you.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Please watch the video below, its for The COVID-19 Warriors.
