A lot of people say you can’t buy happiness. Joy cannot be found in simple materialistic things like clothes, shoes, cars or technology. In our society, it’s difficult to shut out the peer pressure to have the latest and greatest things. We also live in a world where we must pay for nearly everything. For some people, they can find happiness in every situation even without paying for things. For others though, happiness isn’t so straightforward and I think that is more common than not.
Someone once told me that the thing that would make him happy is stability: a nice house, a reliable car, food on the table and a good paying job. It’s not the material goods that make him happy. It’s the fact that he wouldn’t have to worry about being homeless or going through hardships or the stress of not having healthcare or food.
It’s impossible to be entirely happy by buying material goods. Material goods do have the ability to make your life comfortable and easier rather than stressful. Also by saying that material goods can’t be a sort of happiness for people is denying that items sometimes have sentimental value. For example, I have a necklace with three rings on. Each ring represents a woman in my family. It is a material item but it brings me joy when I fiddle with it absentmindedly. Material goods have evolved from simple tools needed to live, to parts of us.
A lot of people are critical of the amount of cell phone use the millennial generation partakes in. It is entirely possible that our dependence has come from the way things are marketed and changing social values. However, cell phones are a part of us and can make us happy. Having the latest phone helps us keep in touch with distant family and friends, take pictures of things we want to remember in the future and play games that allow us to de-stress from everyday life.
Happiness is not something that just appears. Emotions are typically triggered. Buying things can be a way of triggering happiness. Many people have things they’re passionate about. Those things almost always involve needing to buy things or spend money to grow and learn the skill.
There is no magical potion that will make anyone happy. The more important thing is to do what makes you happy, even if that means buying your way to happiness with the latest technology, makeup, clothes, books, cars or whatever it is you love.
