Excess=Success???

I am not claiming myself to be a die-hard minimalist but my experience with shopping malls recently has been quite revealing; I don't bother visiting them at all, including bookshops for this matter. Now that is alarming for a booklover like me.

It's not that I can't afford to buy things as there is always a plastic card nearby but I honestly find the process of shopping and purchasing dead boring, there is just too much of everything everywhere I look, and I am not impressed by the signs for sales at all. The excess is so obvious that it is entirely possible to ignore the whole facade and walk on by. 

What is success to you could be different from my definition and it is okay. However, success can never be equivalent to excessive material possessions. To me it is a sign of lacking confidence and a disguise used to boost up status and power. To me, it is just plain old dumb to cover the real you with a veil of false glamour, made up of faked diamonds and precious stones. In a way not unlike posting on Facebook and other similar platforms where one can brag about the purchase of the latest limited edition from the Channel warehouse. 

We are living in a world of excess. We buy in the name of a better economy. Even a child can see through the lie of this vicious cycle which is doing no-one any good but detrimental to the society and the environment. Do you dream of greater accomplishments, of something greater than material excess? I personally desire significance, influence, to be able to use my gifts to make the world better, that my life matters for something. Above all, I desire freedom and opportunity, to be known and accepted for who I am. I don't ever for once equate material excess with lasting success.

Money earned through honest means and real effort deserves recognition but how can we ever know the source of someone's income which affords him/ her a penthouse and a private plane? I believe there are better things to do with our hard earned cash than spending on accumulating excess. Then there is the environmental factor we should consider before we splurge. The wealth / poverty gap is big enough to show us what greed can do to the world. Comparison with others results in envy, and contentment is something far reaching and unattainable.

I am so so tired of this world of excessive consumerism and I know that I cannot change the world by myself which explains why I am constantly attracted to simple living and the nature found in Scotland and the countryside. I crave home-made gourmet and not frozen meals, I want to buy from the farmer's market, not chain supermarket, I like to see my time well spent on things that add value to myself and others, not to take up any job for the sake of the monthly paycheck. 

I am not rich but I have enough. I see myself pretty successful because I have made a positive impact on my students. I am enough.