With all these marketing targeting our inclination to splurge on new technologies, on new clothes, shoes - basically new stuff - it is quite hard to stay simple and to live simply.
I am glad to be brought up by really practical parents, who do not go on a buying spree whenever a new version of this or that comes out (not that we also have that much money) but who saw the value in getting the best out of our appliances until it is hopelessly broken down. Probably when I was younger, I would be ashamed of how my family is not at par with the things that my affluent classmates have; I never really understood how the world worked then. All I know was that I also wanted designer clothes and always look good and have the latest toys like Tamagotchi and what not.
Fast forward to university years, when I found that cool is not about having the latest and the nicest and everything that outward appearances can offer. Back then, I was a bit more conscious of how I looked. You will never see me with unruly hair and I still put on cologne and a sometimes a bit of lipstick. And even before that, I wore heels and carried what they would now call "ladies' bag." What happened? The mountains happened, along with discovery that there are people who really have it worse than I do. Indigenous peoples, indigent communities... how my world view changed when I started traveling without my parents and traveling using public transportation. I found that taking care too much of myself was akin to selfishness - that when I'm buying this branded shirt, in one part of the world or in the Philippines (I need not look far) someone is dying of hunger. It is not a nice feeling. Until now.
That's how I came to regulate my consumption pattern; when I want to buy something fancy, I take a step back and think that the money I will spend would better go feed a number of people. I get a lot of reprimand from friends (and my mom and my sisters included, who can't seem to appreciate my fashion sense or lack, thereof!) about this complex that I have. I can't help it, I'm sorry. But I will work on it, for the sake of looking grown-up. Blah.
I think it was in 2009 that I wrote this piece on hating junk. It took me one train ride to completely denounce junk, consumerism, and capitalism and to love precycling, freecycling, and recycling (and cycling, yes). Getting rid of junk takes a hell lot of energy, especially if you are the sentimental type. But it also takes a lot of energy to still make do with "old" stuff in your cabinet that are still functional, like this dress that I wore to the office 20th year celebration. Would anyone believe me when I say that dress was more than 10 years old (I think it is 13 years old to be exact)? :)
Resourcefulness is not a bad thing, in fact I think it is an art (just so I can say I am an artist, too haha). But, seriously, it is an art. I would say simplicity is an art, too. It takes a lot of self-control not to "want" things that you don't really "need," especially when you have the money for it. I think the only non-negotiable spending for me would be travel and stuff that I need for my outdoor pursuits and of course my big appetite (which has shrunk with the coldness of this place). Oh and also for my medical needs. You know how it is!
I know that our self-control is only up to a certain point, but it would be really fun to test ourselves and in the process find out more about ourselves, what we can live with and live without... It is all about self-discovery, I guess, and finding the very bare essentials that speak of who you are. What are the things that define you? Is it your Android phone, your I-pod Touch, your I-pad, your car, your designer wallet? It's a rhetorical question but for me the first thing/s that came to mind was or were - The Green Itch and my violin (that is no longer mine and that is I am not even a master of but yeah whatever). At least the first one was an inanimate object :)
So for my night music fix, I have Billy Stewart playing, I'm just chillin' like a villain! Enjoy :) I still have a snail mail to write :)
