The Pros And Cons Of A Minimalist Life

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

We have become captivated with gifts and assets, with the expectation of finding happiness, but we cannot forget the fact that money can only buy material things, it cannot replace people or life experiences. The more we buy the more affluenza digs deeper into our society and future and we need to put an end to this starting with

It seems as if they have everything they might possibly want. Through the years, they have become obsessed with trying to fulfill themselves and find happiness. They believe buying one more item would give them eternal happiness yet fails miserably. The pursuit of happiness through wealth is a common symptom in the affluent which has become an insane obsession.

is that leading in material gain” (Pidgeon 2). The American society has made its people focus so much on making money and material gain that the people forget the real things in life that matter, and the things that are actually achievable. People may think that money can achieve all goals in life, but in actuality it cannot because money cannot buy happiness nor can it fulfill all dreams. “From Jay Gatsby… to Tony Soprano… the woefully wealthy are among the seminal figures of literature, film and television… extolling the lifestyles of the rich and famous while exposing the sadness of celebrity” (Zane 1). The power of money and materialism make people forget about who oneself really is and lose a sense of selfhood. Money over powers the things

" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say

“Money cannot buy happiness,” is a common ideal in today’s day and age. Although the ideal is recognized and reflected by many people, it remains foreign to those plagued by affluenza. Defined as an endless desire for materialistic objects, affluenza which is synonymous with greed, bars people from being content with the quality and quantity of their possessions. As seen in “The Fisherman and His Wife”, The Great Gatsby, and 8 Men Out, the consequences of greed are substantially dangerous.

I am the product of two opposing forces: the tender and encouraging nature of my parents’ ideals, versus the limited and material definition of success I hear from my extended family. My mother and father raised me to be an honorable man. For them, success and happiness stand together, joined by the bond of moral upbringing. My other relatives declare success and prestige are synonymous. Social status and financial hierarchy mark the rungs of prosperity. I understand their arguments; the comfort and security of a desired lifestyle is appealing. However, my values conflict with a definition structured for capital gains. The inner struggle tears me in two, as both sides fight for my support. I have come to a crossroads; should I follow my dreams and aspirations, or pursue the luster of a dollar? Should I take the road less travelled, or the one paved so elegantly before me?

While it may be easy to conclude that materialism is a terrible mindset, we must first clarify what the popular but incorrect mindset of materialism brings. A common belief is that materialistic people believe that the acquisition of possessions will lead to happiness and life satisfaction, and that the lack of possessions will lead to dissatisfaction. However, a study (Belk 1984) revealed the contrary. It is actually dissatisfaction in life that results in a materialistic mindset, not a materialistic mindset resulting in

We, as humans, always associated wealth with happiness because we believe that money can buy anything that we desire. The author explains through irony the misconception

We spend so much time on the hunt, but nothing ever quite does it for us. We get so wrapped up in the hunt that it kind of makes us miserable” Dan Harris, Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things. As Americans are becoming more infatuated with shopping malls and online purchases, we are more focused on filling our homes rather than filling our hearts. When we are more obsessed with tangible goods rather than personal relationships, this type of mindset will continually leave us unsatisfied and with a void, always wanting more. In the minimalist mindset, their motto typically goes as follows: if something does not bring you joy or serve a purpose, there is no need for it. When looking around a typical home, we begin to see how much of a hoarding personality most of us

In most people’s minds, you must be wealthy to truly enjoy living. So, how can the single mother of three achieve happiness if all she has is fifty dollars and happiness costs seventy dollars at the local Target? The answer is quite simple. She has evolved and learned the flow of sales. She knows happiness can also be bought at Walmart for half off, or if she waits a week for the next Kohl’s coupon, she can get happiness for thirty percent off the original price. This is how the mother buys the clothing and other necessities she needs for her children, or as our society knows it, happiness. She knows how to make limited resources last. Instead of spending money like there is no tomorrow, she has learned to save money, making what should only last a couple days for most people last a week for the impoverished family of four. This is similar to the main character’s mother in the short story Drown by Junot Díaz. She too would spend the money she had thriftily, “… my father would give her a hundred dollars at the end of each summer for my new clothes and she would take nearly a week to spend it” (Díaz 507). So, while this may help the mother and her children to survive physically, buying them food and clothing, it takes more than that to survive. A certain mentality is also needed when you are at the bottom of the

In today’s technology riddled world, society has changed its acceptable moral behavior. We tend to value material possessions a lot more than we do people or life in general. We allow this type of gluttonous behavior in our society because we enjoy the tangible things that we can manipulate. We enjoy the mental stimulation it provides us, and we can get enough of it which turns us to be greedier than we used to. We put so much value in material wealth that we are willing to obtain it even when it requires taking people’s livelihood, their lives, and even other creature's lives. We have ingrained it into our minds that bigger is better and we have in established it into the future generation's minds that this type of behavior is acceptable and it is what you need to do to show everyone that you are successful. This mainly happens in first world countries and some third world countries. The main reason for this is that people can’t make meaningful relationships as they used to and this can be attributed to the heavy use of technology. The visual stimulation that technology provides makes us addicted to your screens causing us to disregard the need for any social contact in the real world. Along with that for people to establish a meaningful relationship they must go through hardship together and take risks together, and that is greatly nullified with social media and heavy use of technology altogether. Along with that, the author F. Scotts Fitzgerald portrayed material wealth

As Austrian writer Marie Von Ebner-Eschenbach wrote,“To be content with little is difficult; to be content with much, impossible.” History and literature have established that the ideal goal every American has wanted is for his thirst for material possessions to be reached, but even then, the individual isn’t truly happy. Money, and the things it can get you, have long been a part of American culture and the materialist culture of society have been examined in numerous ways from novels to the art of those like Andy Warhol. A life free from the economic woes that plague almost everyone seems like the quintessential existence, but material wealth is not a way to mend issues.

Whoever said money can’t buy happiness? Today, the argument can be made that happiness and consumerism are directly linked. It is fair to say that happiness is a relative term for different people. However, the obtaining of new and shiny things has become such a part of everyday life, that it provides happiness when people are purchasing something new, and causes sadness when no buying is taking place. For many, it seems to be a protective coating against the harsh realities of everyday stresses from a job, or family life.

I watched the talk published on TED's official website in 2011 and given by Graham Hill who is the founder of TreeHugger.com. The title of the talk was “Less Stuff, More Happiness”. I decided to evaluate the effectiveness of this talk because when I firstly see the title of the talk, I directly became curious about the content of it.As far as I observed , Hill tried to persuade his audiences to throw the unnecessary possessions away from their lives since he thinks that redundant furnitures are just the obstacles for our happiness. In other words, he encouraged everyone to adopt an idea of “less is more”. I think he was able to explain his ideas to the audiences efficaciously, so his ideas got me to look at my life from a different perspective.