The principle of Satiation (per my jenga)

Oprea, I never thought I'd think about you again after taking that miserable Experimental economics . But today, the universe seemed to bring the frequency of your teachings into my thoughts. I thought about the alignment of the theory of satiation in respect to my life. The principle can be defined as how the quantity of something that someone possesses will affect what they are willing to give up to get another. Put in very simple terms this means that if you already had 50 shoes/jackets/bags/etc., then you would not be willing to give up too much to get another pair of shoes/jackets/bags/etc. Whereas if you had no pairs of shoes you would be more than willing to give up a lot in order to get your first pair of shoes.

So, where does this bring me to reflecting on my life?

It all started when I began de-cluttering my life of material shit I've been accumulating over the years. Attempting to de-clutter, I've endured painstaking moments cringing at material items I've spent hours obsessing over on the internet, impulse buys, and outdated sentiments that seemed to linger around this space. How is it that I've managed to spend so much money on useless shit over these years? Now, in respect to the principle I've stated, the latter expression has revealed itself entirely.

While growing up (my teen years till present), I've never had EVERYTHING-- I mean, that alone in the word seems less definable as we continue understand what 'everything' meant to us at the time. However, I've always felt like I 'had less' than anyone else. To satisfy this desire to own shit and gain this ideal goal of obtaining 'everything', I've slaved away serving you pearl tea and crepes, (wo)manned Girl Space at Great America, folded away boyfriend jeans and at AE, rat raced doing economic research, perfected the usage of 10-key and application of accounting principles and lied to you stating that those Rock & Republics looked absolutely fabulous on you. In return, I've meticulously filed away tax returns and pay stubs that always left me playing lead role in a mystery movie titled, 'Where the fuck did all my money go?'

Seeing from this pattern, the idea that I 'had nothing' created this yearning for more. I sacrificed so much of my youth in order to gain these things that would somehow define the person I am (or wanted to be). I attempted to reach satiation. I was neither at any level higher nor lower in terms of happiness when purchasing these fabrications. This would then later leave me to emptying out my room of belongings that I would perpetually donate to Goodwill, Savers and the IRC. I suppose this was a sign today to work on my minimalism for the up and coming months of traveling. Respectively, I also believe this is a perfect time to understanding how to organize my finances accordingly and understanding that there really is no other substitute for happiness.

Now that I'm looking around at my room (mainly my closet), I can finally breathe. I want to focus more on spending my money on experiences rather than tangible goods. Novelty shit can wait till I find more reasoning into buying that kind of stuff.

Lessons to be learned:
1. Try applying more economic theories to your life-- it might make more sense when handing over your credit card
2. Stop buying useless shit
3. Stop slaving away to buy useless shit
4. Buying useless shit is not a substitute for happiness. I'm referring to the idea in Ekhart Tolle's, A New Earth. He speaks on the desire to want more (stemming from the ego). The presumption that 'I have, therefore I am"-- which is wrong in so many aspects. He says, "one of the unconscious assumptions is that by identifying with an object through the fiction of ownership, the apparent solidity and permanency of that object will endow your sense of self with greater solidity and permanency". Again, many ways absurd.

That is all.