You and Things You Buy

Yesterday I went to have a lunch with my best friend who happened to befriend with my boyfriend’s coworker. A warm, lovely lunch filled with light jokes also talks about interesting stocks to buy this following week. After that, I decided to hop into F21 to pick great-but-cheap hairbands, it turned out they ran out of it yet they had sale, pay 2 get 1 free for all stuffs so I grabbed some earrings and necklace, under 5 bucks for 3 items. Then I strolled down to H&M to get their hairbands, though it was not as good as F21’s.

It’s been quite sometime for me to go into those two places since leaving grad school. Lifestyle shifts, they say. I bumped into group of college gurls, gurls dragging their parents to the cashier, and I can’t help remembering myself back then, when I don’t have any money but I was more satisfied with my life.  When I was looking forward to go there with mum. When happiness had got something to do with money, but not so much. I enjoyed cheap thrills. I went a date on junk food stall. I only got my frappe once a month after mum sent me my monthly allowance to live in Depok. Life pretty much made more sense.

Sometimes bottomless pit makes everything seems pointless. Too many cups of latte make you forget how warming it can be. Too many expensive shoes and purses do not give you joy you always long for. Too much of everything makes everything loses its meaning.  And yes, you will never feel enough if you don’t stop and realize that you are all blessed in every step and choice you take.

Maybe I’m not achieving enough financial freedom to say this, but really, sometimes you need to get everything you want first to realize, it’s never about getting everything you want.

I smiled a lot after that. Of course back then, there were days when I wished I had got more money, I wished I could afford A, B, C and so on. I relieved to know that first, you might be able to get things you really want to, but the second, they won’t make you happy unless you yourself decide that it can make you happy.

The key is to be grateful. But really, I’m considering to live like a grad student again and save more in 2017.