Why is my dream car from 10 years ago, no longer a dream car now?
Back at the start of the year, I started looking into new cars again. It made me wonder why my dream car from 10 years ago — a 2013 Mazdaspeed3, which is what I'm currently driving and have been driving since 2013 — no longer feels like a dream car now.
I mean, sure, it is 10 years old. Some of the paint is chipping. The seats are no longer brand new. Some of the buttons on the steering wheel have lost their symbols. The headlights are starting to look hazy. Some of the wheels have curb rash. There is a big chip on the hood scoop. There is a gash on the passenger side rear wheel fender from scraping a parking lot column in Galveston. I mean yes, it is old. But isn't this still the same car I dreamed of owning a decade ago?
And now that prompts a different question: Was it the car that I really wanted? Or was I just looking for something new?
Are we buying something because we like it? Or are we actually addicted to the idea or feeling of getting something new every so often?
Then I remembered that an explanation for this was provided in the documentary The Minimalists: Less Is Now. The explanation goes like this:
When we finally get what we want, that car, that house, that new phone, we are happy for awhile. But then the brain normalizes all of that. And so after a while, we end up with new wants and new desires. The high bar that we just recently achieved, now becomes the baseline from which to start wanting to acquire more stuff.
So, you can see how that can quickly become a vicious, never-ending cycle of wants and desires. The solution in my opinion is to detach.
I wrote this post way before I wrote this other one. It just sat in my drafts folder and I had forgotten about it until today. But as you can see, just like that other post, the solution is the same.
Tags: #Reflection #Minimalism #Detachment