Have you ever noticed that the more stuff people have, the more locks, gates, security systems, passwords, and other protection devices they have as well? Most of us are already aware that there is a direct link between materialism and depression for many reasons. One of these reasons being that generally the more we have, the more the more we are responsible for protecting that which we have, leading to more stress, more time spent managing our possessions, and less time for the things that really matter. Because we live in the West, relatively speaking, the vast majority of us have A LOT. Not to say that all of us who have a lot are necessarily protective and possessive with our belongings, but I don’t think it would be too far off to say that none of us likes to have our stuff damaged by a careless borrowee, accidently lost, or not-so-accidently stolen. So this then would indicate that there is some degree of time, energy, and effort… not to mention concern and worry, that goes into possession ownership. How much time do we want to be spending stressing about and managing the state of our goods? And if we are being distracted in this way, how much of this takes us away from being involved in things that are truly meaningful and important? At what point do we cross that line into becoming possessed by our possessions? And we might even ask ourselves, why do we let it happen?
Now it’s not always so easy in the current state of our society to stay grounded in and focused on the things that are truly meaningful and important, and thus keeping ourselves from getting caught up in the ultimately isolating chaos. Regular little self-reminders and reality checks are often essential if we hope to keep the main things the main things.