How to Not Let Consumerism Consume You

The things that we own occupy varying places of importance in our lives. For some people, their coffee maker is their most prized possession and something they would struggle to live without. For others, it’s their headphones, or a game console, while for others it’s their water bottle, Bible, or a favorite pair of slippers and pajamas. Our stuff helps to make our lives comfortable, and it can enrich our lives in interesting ways.

There is, however, a danger lurking in our ownership of stuff. The script can be flipped, and we can find ourselves unable to live without our things. We can turn around and discover that as much as we own our things, our things own us, and we’ve formed an unhealthy relationship with the things we own. It can take time, effort, and conscious decisions to nurture a healthy self-understanding that doesn’t rely on objects for a sense of fullness of life.

What is consumerism?

One way to describe consumerism is as a preoccupation with purchasing and consuming things. Our country can rightly be termed a consumer society; we are encouraged at every turn, through ads, discounts and bargains, coupons, deals and so much more to buy more and more stuff, even if we don’t need it. Many incentives are offered to buy things, and we also learn to associate certain values and emotions with the stuff we buy.

Often, the sense of need we experience for certain things is generated by dissatisfaction with what we currently have. Perhaps the model of phone you have is a year old, and along comes the newest model with this extra feature that you simply must have. Certain styles and colors in clothes are in style this season, and so to be fashionable means getting rid of the old and embracing the new.

Consumerism is essentially a mindset of purchasing things as a way of life and deriving a sense of value and meaning from the things you own. For some, that means being preoccupied with certain brands, or with how recent a thing is. It may also be about having a complete collection of a particular product, whether you’re using it or not. Buying and selling things is what your life is geared toward.

How consumerism affects you

Consumerism can have many effects on a person. For one thing, it can affect your finances. Buying things and trying to keep up with trends or always needing to have the biggest, newest, fastest, and shiniest of something can make a serious dent in your finances. Whether you can afford it or not, consumerism can draw significant financial resources away from other things you could do with the money.

Another effect of consumerism is deep dissatisfaction. Whatever you purchase today, even if it’s the most amazing product or experience you have ever had, there will always be another, better one down the pike. The advertisers will be sure to let you know how the upcoming version will be even more immersive, intuitive, and satisfying. And the year after that, they’ll say the same thing.

When just about everything can be bought and sold, one of the unfortunate side effects of consumerism and the mindset it fosters is that we begin to commodify everything and everyone around us. It’s easy to begin looking at relationships, even intimate relationships like marriage, as a type of commodity to gain respect or as a means to reach personal life goals. Social relationships only become valuable to the extent that we’re getting something out of them.

Often, consumerism is a means of soothing difficult emotions. So, instead of dealing head-on with sadness, hurt, anger, disappointment, anxiety, and other hard emotions, it’s much easier to turn to buying things to feel immediate relief. However, it doesn’t address the root issue.

Moving forward

An entire industry, that of self-storage, has emerged to store our items that don’t fit in our own homes. Despite the ads and the assurances that having more will make us feel better, a home that has too much stuff in it can actually fuel anxiety. And instead of feeling better about ourselves, our attachment to our stuff makes us even more insecure. Purchasing often takes one click, and it’s easy to fall into it without giving it too much thought.

You can address aspects of consumerism in your life by taking stock of what you already own. Sometimes the extent of the issue is hidden in boxes in the garage or in self-storage. Do an inventory and consider the financial implications of these purchases. Help yourself by becoming accountable for how you spend money, whether that means talking with a friend or a financial advisor. Consider getting rid of a few of your credit cards.

Our lives are made up of more than just the stuff we own (Luke 12:15). It’s important to address the trains of thought that feed into why we buy so many things, especially when it’s connected to difficult situations. Speaking to a counselor can help you unearth why you connect buying and owning things with who you are, and with happiness. If you would like to work on your habits of consumerism and would like to discuss it with a counselor in Encinitas, give us a call today at Encinitas Christian Counseling in California.