Every day, we wake up and tell ourselves a story about our life and our relationships with the people and things around us, with the work we do, with the relationships we build and hold on to or let fizzle out. We assign meaning to some things and discount other things. We assign value (monetary, emotional, values-wise) to some things or ideas to a greater degree than others. All of this, collectively, makes up the culture we are a part of and inhabit every day.
Currently, our capitalist culture places a great degree of value on wealth and the accumulation of "things". This leads us to seek out jobs that pay well and provide us with the capital to be able to afford those things. What's more, no matter how much we have, there will always be someone with more that will cause us to feel jealous and envious. We celebrate those with the most success and share that message constantly. You can be more. Some will say this simply motivates us to work harder and achieve greater things. However, if there is always someone with more, will we ever be happy or satisfied?
What if we told ourselves a different story? What is "more" became "enough"? How would our lives change if we weren't as concerned with the nicer car and the bigger house? We all have the power to tell ourselves a different story about our lives and the people around us. We can decide what we what to prioritize and what we actually need to be happy. We can decide to reshape our culture into something that brings us joy.
Whether we realize it or not, we are often motivated by jealousy. We see the successes of others and we want it for ourselves. In large part, this is because our successes are mainly individual. Your success does not benefit me, and so I'm unable to see it as an asset for the community. Instead, I see something I don't have, and I want it. It becomes harder and harder to be happy when you've decided the things that make you happy are the things you don't have. Our current culture may be one of shared values, but it is not one of shared community. Perhaps we need to start telling ourselves a different story, one more about "enough" and less about "more". How would you spend your time if that was the case?
