Happy end of February, which always seems to sneak up on me. It’s not much shorter than other months, yet it seems like the month has barely happened at all. Whether it was a good month or a bad month for you, congratulations on making it through!
This seems like a good time of year to take a step back and evaluate things. I am always trying to be conscious of my relationship to material wealth and possessions, hence the name of this month’s post. It’s a hobby of mine to browse things for sale, especially when walking around and gazing at stores and objects. On one day this month, I walked around downtown for hours and dipped into many stores, but ended up just getting myself a cappuccino at the end. In a weird way, I feel like I’ve been trained to expect a payoff at the end of all of that, which is maybe why I bought a coffee. However, I’ve learned that pretty much anything can become ritualized and pleasurable.
On other days, I will really splurge. Of course, I am very fortunate to be able to do that. Sometimes I feel guilty about it, and oftentimes I think that guilt is productive. But other times, I don’t think I should feel guilty about it. It makes me happy to work hard and then buy something nice. The phrase/concept of “treat yourself” is sometimes exactly what I want to do. But sometimes the phrase feels reductive. I think it can imply impulsivity and thoughtlessness when the decision to buy something was very intentional in actuality.
Well, in the end, I am flawed and should buy fewer things. The best thing to do is probably to buy much less. Environmentally, definitely. But in the sense of endlessly saving money, I buy the argument much less. I definitely believe in saving money and personal stability (a different definition for everyone), but I don’t believe in the sacredness of money over life. I don’t believe in saving everything forever for the sake of it… and maybe this is edging on nihilistic so I’ll cut it off here!
Anyways, I wish you a wonderful month of thoughtfulness and romanticizing your current and future possessions. I hope you find yourself in the possession of some unexpected free time. When that happens, have something delicious! Go on walks! (To quote Whitman:) Unscrew the locks from their doors! Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs! ~ Enjoy!
End-of-Month | webzine and blog 