Recognise the difference between needs and wants
Our actual needs are pretty limited: food, shelter, clothing, companionship. Just about everything else is a "want," and our wants are essentially endless. Because our resources are limited, we have to make choices about which wants to fulfill.
Also, the way we fulfill our needs involves a lot of choice. Shelter, for example, can be a simple 3-room apartment or a $1 million condominium. Our food choices offer a similar range, from rice and ice water consumed at home to steak and Dom Perignon at an exclusive restaurant.
Interestingly, I've discovered many people believe they have to spend money in certain ways or in certain amounts, when in reality their spending is a choice - or is at least based on choices they made earlier. If you're facing a monster mortgage payment, for example, it's because you chose to buy that home and selected that particular mortgage.
Taking responsibility for our choices can be scary, but it should also be empowering. After all, if you have choices, you're not just a victim of circumstance.
King of the Birds, Lord of the Skies
Gather ye rose buds while ye may, old time is still a flying;
and this same rose that you see today, tomorrow will be dying.
CarpeDiem: Seize the Day!
- Dead Poets Society
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