Episode seventeen - Why we buy more stuff than we need

The Happy Teacher Podcast

There are countless reasons we buy more stuff than we need. Some motivations are pushed upon us by society. I saw this really clearly a few years ago while training for Ironman UK. For those that don't know, Ironman is a long triathlon: 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles on the bike, followed by 26.2 miles of running. It's a crazy event. It's tough, difficult, a worthwhile challenge if you are into that sort of thing. I loved it. I loved the training and I loved the whole experience of the day. I'll never forget it. What I was less moved by was the constant talk and chatter about equipment in online forums. My gut feeling is that once you start to wonder if you have the correct water bottle, something has been missed, something has gone wrong, something is out of balance. At times the build up to the event seemed to be about consumption rather than training hard; at least it was for some people, if their posts were anything to go by. So arriving at a healthy understanding of why we buy more than we need is a worthy pursuit if we are interested in finding balance, if we are interested in finding fulfilment, contentment, and joy.