Void Thoughts

Is it really? I look around and see everything urging us that it’s not.

We need more of everything. Clothes. Shoes. Car. Food. Space.

And bigger.

A friend kept complaining about how difficult it is to buy a house in this housing market, as prices have gone up exponentially, along with the interest rate. They find their current 2500 sq ft house small for their family of three and are upset that they didn’t buy a bigger house a few years ago. How foolish!

I don’t know how a bigger house would bring them more happiness. Because there will always be a bigger and better option out there haunting their wishes and dreams.

Many of our friends commented that we should’ve bought a bigger house when we got our first house because it would be a hassle to upgrade later. There were some looks of pity from some of our friends when they came to visit us as they thought our house wasn’t big enough. Someone even referred to our 1950 sq ft house as “small houses like these,” making my eyes and ears pop out for a second.

I am aware that houses are generally big in Phoenix. But that doesn’t mean we should all follow the trend and end up with more than we need. Our family of four is happy in our “small” house. Isn’t that more than enough?

Our first apartment was 600 sq ft. It was good enough for both of us as we began our life together. But the kitchen was too small, and I wanted a bigger one – one with a pantry and a couple more kitchen cabinets. We moved to an 800 sq ft one-bedroom apartment next, which made me feel on top of the world. I loved our spacious kitchen!

Since then, we have moved to many different apartments, always bigger than the first two, and truth be told, I haven’t experienced a similar kind of joy when we moved to our second apartment. That one, although wasn’t big, was big enough to accommodate our needs. It was not too small, not too big. It made me feel happy because I had everything I needed. That was my first lesson on less is more.

Often, we confuse the phrase “less is more” as a restriction.

But in my experience, less is more is a way of living where you feel content and happy with what you have. You are not forcing yourself to give up or own less. It’s a liberating feeling when you intentionally choose to own less. The less you own materialistic items, the more you feel happy and content internally.

It’s a great feeling. I have seen glimpses of it. I am hoping to get a better view of this experience in my life ahead. I am no expert on less is more. I have a lot of stuff. And that’s why I’ve decided that this year I will not buy clothes for myself. Usually, we go to a store, I end up buying at least a couple of T-shirts for myself even though that was not in my plan. My intention is to buy only if I actually need it. No random, impulse purchases. I have enough clothes to keep me warm through the year, even if I stop buying clothes for the next two years.

I agree it’s not an easy journey when consumerism is bombarding us from all sides, and comparison is the way of living in our society.

If you live by the philosophy that more is better, then that’s up to you. But I recommend not disregarding someone else when they are happy with what they have. They might not be pretending to be content as you think they are because they are not waiting for your approval that they are happy.

© Vinitha Dileep

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