Imagine this scene you’re walking down the road of a high street and something like a coat or jumper on the mannequin in the store front window catches your eye. In the faint second of seeing the gorgeous colour, style and design you know its the one, slowly walking backwards, head tilting in direction of the window you gaze in wonder thinking what it would be like to have that item of clothing in your grasp. Suddenly a shock goes through your mind, NOPE not an essential, at least you badly try to convince yourself, keep moving forward. Unfortunately, it's just too late you’re now stuck in the endless loop of walking back and forth, eyes darting anxiously between the window and your wallet, your mind and emotions won’t align on this matter of affairs.
Don't tell me you’ve never had an encounter quite like this. “Consume or not to consume?” that is the question most of the time, the thought “you don't really need this at the moment” is at the forefront of our mind’s. BUT those little doubts, such as “go on treat yourself or "eh why not just do it” have a tendency to creep up on the best of us from time to time.
Tricky Marketing Tactics
It goes without saying the driving force of consumer culture hits like a tonne of bricks when you realise through advertisements and commercial campaigns words, photos, videos are all designed by others in a way to entice customers and get them to purchase as much as they can.
Consumerism is an issue in modern society as people tend to value their happiness and personal wellbeing through the purchasing of material goods. The manipulation through meticulous marketing strategies and even with the influence of social media it makes us all question how can we knowingly fall for the need to invest in items that over time loose meaning and value to us.
The psychological and emotional effects on the mind tend to pull an individual from every angle, like a tug of war game which plays on the desires of purchasing a product simultaneously clashing with the post feelings of regret bubbling soon after glancing at that what everyone calls to make themselves feel better “a one time buy”. I assure you the reassurance in this case scenario is futile. Maybe to an extent, this is why after all the impulse buys and never looking twice at something bought what feels like a life time ago can only have the capability to make us happy up until a certain point in time.
The Minimalist
Worry not! there are potential ways to counter consumerism and slowly but surely move on from the excessive consumption of things. By setting mindful goals and coming to terms with how consumerism can strain the habits we individuals posses it is possible to be more considerate in the way we purchase products throughout our everyday lives.
One of the ways we can apply useful methods to avoid excessive spending is through the ideas of Minimalism. Developing a minimalist way of thinking can be difficult to begin with but by taking small considerate steps towards an end goal it is achievable, as we declutter our minds and begin to realise that the more conscious we are in dealing with our surroundings and spending habits the more beneficial it is to our mental health.
It doesn’t have to be huge dramatic steps such as completely avoiding spending or just throwing away everything you own, but rather understanding the impact of what has been done and how to change this for a more thoughtful and positive way of living. Through consciously building this sense of awareness one step at a time we can begin to understand ourselves better through self growth, self expression and carry out activities which have real meaning and purpose to you. Thus leading individuals to have the ability to focus on the present and truly value what they have now in life.