(no subject)
Just a few things on my mind lately. You see these posts going around Facebook or "Insta" (God I feel old saying that) and everyone comments with "amen" or "agree!" (which by the way, I always wonder if all or most of those comments are bots. It's so strange how they've got hundreds of comments and the majority are all one to a couple words long. Anyway, the post I'm talking about is when some page you've never heard of or even know why it's showing up on your feed tells you not to cherish the material things, to cherish experiences. My response in my head is always, why?
Ok let me start by saying I am not a super materialistic person. My boyfriend does have a nice, albeit older truck, but he has a summer and winter beater vehicle that he drives 95% of the time. He picked me up for our first date in his nice truck because, well for the same reason you shower and don't wear dirty clothes, you want to make a good first impression. But unless his other vehicles need gas or we have to haul something, we take his beater vehicles almost everywhere (unless we take my car).
He said one of the first things he was impressed with when we first started dating was the first time he suggested taking his beater car wherever we were going and I said ok, and hopped in. He said lots of women would have made a face, or a joke or asked to take the Silverado but it didn't phase me.
I often will choose the less fancy option of something to save money, as long as it's decent quality and does what I need it to do and I cherish my loved ones above all else. But why can't I like and cherish any of my material items? I work hard, I save money, I find deals; why can't I take pride in my brand new vehicle that I work hard to afford? Why can't I walk into my living room and just love the space because it's nicely decorated with nice (still cheap, but it's held up well) furniture and a big tv that I again worked hard to pay for?
Yeah, I get the basic idea of that saying....you can't take material possessions with you, and obviously don't be a Scrooge and ignore loved ones or miss out on fun/memorable things in favor of material things. But to say that we should not value any? That's ridiculous. Sure, I like experiences, I've had some really nice vacations and road trips and just going out and doing things. But I'm pretty picky about them. I don't like crowds, so anything that's crowded and has a lot of people I am not too excited for. I don't like extreme temps so anything in very cold or very hot weather will not be that enjoyable, and then there's just the fact that so often things aren't what you pictured.
My Hawaii vacation was awesome and we did a lot of fun things. Shark cage diving, visiting Pearl Harbor, beach days, restaurants, visiting the Byodo-In Temple, etc. But there were some things I didn't care for like climbing Diamond Head and the island was still different from what I pictured. From the homeless people lining the sidewalks to the pretty rundown homes that are nothing like you see on TV, Hawaii isn't all beach and resorts and that's quite often how my vacations go. They're fun, but things here and there that aren't what I pictured or expected takes away from it a little.
Many of my vacations and trips have been mostly great, but I would not want to sit on milk crates and drive a junk car to go have tons of experiences instead. I know people who spend hundreds of dollars on things like concerts. I personally hate concerts. Again with the crowds, and I think bands sound way better on the radio. I don't see why it's perfectly acceptable for someone to spend their money on an "experience" that they love, but not wanting to do that experience and being excited about my newest gadget from Amazon is not. What's the difference?
Maybe I am reading into it too much but ugh, I hate the general attitude of telling people what they "should do and should enjoy". Just enjoy and spend money on what you want. I was once told by someone that I should downgrade my car, that I don't need that much space (actually I do but whatever). I said no, I love my car. They said don't love a car, love experiences! Ugh! There's nothing wrong with liking and enjoying your material possessions and I just cannot stand that general attitude that it's wrong to do so.