Keeping Up With The Joneses

So, you’re swiping that credit card for that 42-inch LED TV that’s bigger and more technologically advanced than your neighbor’s 32-inch LCD TV?  Oh, so you are taking that loan from the bank to buy that new Mercededs Benz C-class?  You are breaking your nest egg so you can make that down payment and show off the new car to your golfing buddies even though your old car is still in perfect working condition?  New fishing gear?  New Harley motorbike?  New IWC wristwatch?  New Faberge necklace?  New Harry Winston bracelet?  New swimming pool?  Ticket for a trip to the moon?  What else?  You are thinking, “I’ve got to keep up…”.

There is nothing wrong wanting or having these things in life.  If you keep measuring your worth however, based on the material things you are accumulating, no amount of consumer goods is commensurate.  What’s worse is that you could end up with a pile of debt!

Why is there an incessant need  to prove to your neighbors that you are much better or more well-off?  Why is climbing the social status important to you at all?  If you derive happiness, satisfaction or worth from the approval of others, you’ll never be genuinely happy.

Stop this madness now! Realize that you have within you everything you need to feel secure.  Material things and people approval are “nice to have” but never essential.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery may have simply put it: “…what is essential is invisible to the naked eye.”.