On Wanting
Happy Friday everyone! It’s a lovely sunny day here and I’m celebrating by putting my feet up and catching up on email. And doing a little thinking, always a dangerous thing.
Tomorrow is my birthday and it seems I’m turning a bit older. Apparently, this happens every year. My 32nd year will be celebrated with a prenatal massage (yes!) and dinner out with Neil. Dash will be home with his grandparents, which is close to the best thing ever for him.
Any talk of birthdays always makes me think of birthdays when I was a kid. Big parties, presents, and a day that was all about me. And how I wanted wanted wanted things for my birthday (and sometimes even got them) and how it’s really not like that anymore. Adult birthdays are less about presents and more about spending time with the people you care about. For instance, no one really asks what I want for my birthday anymore, nor do they expect to hear that I want a Strawberry Shortcake doll.
But when it comes down to it, wanting doesn’t go away, does it? I still want all kinds of things. An elliptical machine, a new house, a housekeeper, and this beautiful thing from Ban.do:
These are the kinds of wants that come with explanations like, “with an elliptical I could work off all the baby weight after Pickle is born,” or “we have a lovely home but it’s not quite right for our growing family,” or “If we had a housekeeper I could spend more time with my family or building a business,” or “with that peacock feather thingy in my hair, I’d be unstoppable.”
And it all seems so rational, right? But they’re still just wants. I could get by without them, I just don’t want to.
It makes me wonder… if I made up a list of every single thing that I want and I somehow got them all, a near impossibility… how long would it take me to start wanting something new?
What about you? What do you want? How do you cope with want vs. need vs. just chilling out about it?
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September 6th, 2008 at 9:25 am
One big thing on my wants / needs list is one and the same. I want it and need it. There never seems to be enough of it. It’s free, yet it’s so hard to find. Time is what I’m looking for. Gotta run. Have to be someplace.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:32 am
It always seems that, when I am the lowest on cash, I want the most. At these times, I gather change and find old gift cards and use them to get little things I have been wanting for a while. It calms the “must have” desires until the paycheck comes in.