When I was in school, an Indian  politician was in the news for accumulating what’s known as ‘disproportionate assets’. What I remember about the affair, was the number of shoes and saris (an Indian wrap around dress) they found in her house…750 shoes and 10500 saris! Basically, she could wear a different sari everyday for more than 28 years and never have to repeat!

Now there may be some who hear that and wish they owned stuff like that…we all probably know someone for whom accumulating has become a life long obsession.

Thankfully, most of us are not anywhere close to as crazy in our shopping habits. But while we don’t live to buy, over the years things tend to creep up on us and before you know it, we own so much useless stuff that we could be sitting atop a small mountain of clutter!

But I believe now albeit slowly, things are beginning to unravel and there many who are starting to feel it. The rumble of discontent is getting more noticeable…less distant…easier to sense…many more now feel the tremors!

And this is what it is saying “WE DON’T WANT ALL THIS STUFF!”

Deep down we know it…we have known it for a long time…even wondered aloud at times…may have dared to say it- “the way we consume is painfully broken”. It was always quite broken beneath the surface, right… but now the cracks are glaring and growing wider!

All our growing up years we have been sold this story by our leaders, media and social groups…study hard, work hard, go to this top school, make so much money, work with that company…live in this house, drive that car, vacation in these places…and other such ‘sage’ bits of life advice on how to be successful and happy!

And we religiously ticked the boxes in the pursuit of happiness!

But as most of us are finding out…it isn’t working. The consumption story we have been sold… is not the the answer. More stuff DOES NOT satisfy!

But we carry on…running the race…hoping that things will fall into place for us! We are the exception it will work for! And so we chase the next shiny gadget on the horizon.

Only to get it and be left feeling empty again.

Allow me to offer you a different narrative…

It is not THE NARRATIVE…there is another time for that.

…but I think it is a better narrative…

…it is a simpler narrative… and it starts by asking yourself a series of ‘What if’ questions…

What if I  consumed less?

What if I didn’t own all that I currently own?

What if I could find more fulfillment and meaning in life by not buying more?

What if I could express who I am better in a more meaningful and different way?

What if I didn’t need products to signal what I wanted others to know about me?

OR

What is my fewer products signaled something different…

This very thought provoking story paints a picture of what might be possible!

I hope it starts you thinking of writing a new story for your self.