In this age of social media and endless comparison between car models, house sizes, children’s grades and size of one’s backyards, it is more important than ever to stay satisfied with what you have and truly mean it.

A truly happy household starts with truly happy members. No amount of clutter or stuff can cause a genuine smile to cross the face of a disgruntled person.

How do we learn to stop accumulating and start living and using our materials to the fullest? The answer is not clear cut. Spending too flagrantly leads to ruin. Using too much luxurious goods leads to unsustainable lifestyles and eventually ennui where no amount of branded goods can satisfy.

We need to strike a balance between spending over the top and spending just enough to cover the creature comforts. Are we lucid enough when we begin on our journey to rediscover ourselves through experimentation and exploration so that we make rational decisions?

Do we choose to live large now and live vicariously through our outsized aspirations?

As we age, our enjoyment of material things as a rule of thumb goes down. When is it a good time to indulge in creature comforts while balancing the needs of economic realties?

How does one be satisfied with what they have? It’s simple really, own less. Be judicious with your belongings and always make time to clear out your possessions should you find clutter covering your desk and study.

People are used to upward lifestyle creep but not the opposite. When people downgrade and have a reverse lifestyle creep happen, they tend to make decisions to downsize and purchase less. Making decisions contrary to the conventional upward creep is not an easy task due to the constant barrage of marketing and advertising our generation is exposed to.

Being satisfied with what you have very often coincides with a downwards comparison. You compare your situation with someone who is your peer that is doing less well than you are. Now, I am not advocating this behaviour, it is in fact what everyone does although they don’t admit it. The healthy way would be to amass belongings, refine talents, and work on building up characteristics that makes you happy such as practicing music, studying the Bible, playing tennis, writing a blog for example.