Simply Thrifty

The Elusive “Bigger, Better, More”

by Kadi on July 1st, 2008

It seems to me that one of the biggest problems we face today is our societal adoption of the “Bigger, Better, More” theory. Many people who practice this way of living end up unable to satiate their desires and become generally unhappy with life. A shift in focus can sometimes be the greatest avenue to finding happiness. I had to learn this the hard way, when we moved from a wonderful neighborhood, for the sake of saving money. Yes, we downsized and it was a smart financial move. However, we traded many of the things that we enjoyed, for the sake of a better financial situation. We had a safe, established neighborhood with great residents. We lived five minutes from my mother, who I am very emotionally close to. We left a school that had an awesome staff, who loved our kids. I thought that having greater wiggle room, financially would be more than enough to make up for the things that we were losing. I was wrong…very wrong.

I was miserable from the very first day at our new residence. We knew nobody. The neighbors who did move in, were not people who we shared the same values as us. I had problems with the schools and the staff did not seem to care. I missed my family, terribly. I would cry myself to sleep every night, because I was so homesick. One day, my sister in law sent me a Biblical devotion page in the mail. The story talked about contentment. I called to thank her, still unsure why she had sent it to me. She told me that in life, there will be times that our situations are not idealistic, but we have no power to immediately change things outside of our own perspective. She lovingly told me to suck it up and make the best of my situation, for the good of my family. I took her advice and tried to focus on the positive aspects of our new life. It is a good thing that I took her advice, because the housing market crashed and we would have never had the chance to move back anyway.

I see so many people who practice the “Bigger, Better, More” theory and cheat themselves out of contentment. Like me, they are so busy looking at what they are missing out on, that they fail to see what they already have and how wonderful it is. If only they would focus on their blessings instead of  the lack of having all that their hearts desire, life might be a little more rose colored. As the great musician, Sheryl Crow, says, “It’s not having what you want. It’s wanting what you’ve got.” I’m not implying that I never have to struggle with wanting more or better. I certainly do, at times. It is human nature. However, I do not let the lack of such, make my life miserable. Life is too short to spend it looking around for the pot of gold, when your own pot is overflowing with blessings of many different colors!

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POSTED IN: Simpler Thinking