COLUMN : chasing toys

have you ever felt that way – that all you need in life to be happy is to be able to buy that one special thing ? that phone, those shoes,  that bike, those clothes ?

the problem with that i find, is that it usually doesn’t take long before that next one special thing comes along, just screaming to be bought. is the idea of buying happiness nothing more than a clever trick from consumerist marketing ?

one of the best – and certainly one of the worst – things with trying to support yourself by being a creative self-employed is that you never know what the next salary is going to be. that means that for the last 3-4 years, i’ve been perfecting my don’t-even-go-in-to-the-store skills. just getting used to never spontaneously buying things has been great for me, and for my wallet. since i haven’t had the money to fill that empty feeling with things, i’ve had to really look into what that empty feeling is saying. why am i not content ?

almost every time, the reason has been the same : i’m not content because either i’m not happy with where my life is at, or with where my life is going. it’s usually one or the other.

working on that instead of buying a new phone has had such a hugh impact on my life. not only has it made me done some serious thinking on what i want my life to be, but it also comes with cool side effects. for instance – we’ve been back in stockholm for just over a year and we’re already thinking of moving to berlin for a while just for the experience. something we would never ever do if we had tons of stuff – furniture, a house, a mortgage – here in stockholm.

so for now – being a couple of poor creatives is really paying off.

love // jenny