I don’t know about you but the start of a new year always puts things in a different perspective for me.
I’m more motivated to reach my goals, I’m driven and full of this renewed zest for life that the start of a new year seems to inevitably bring.
All this is well and good.
However, there’s another thing that starting a new year always brings me, one that is less great.
The feeling of needing things.
That craving for all the things I don’t have yet.
Maybe it’s a by-product of all the holiday gifts I got that I love but didn’t know I needed before I actually got them. I don’t know.
I’m a minimalist at heart and I have very few things (compared to other North American people that is) but I still have too many -must haves- occupying my mind’s space.
It may seem inconsequential but the time I use dreaming of those things I want is actually detrimental to me.
People often say that the only way to get what we want, whether it is a specific object or an intangible goal is to focus on it with an eagle like obsession.
I’m all for vision boards and other derivatives but I have come to realize that having them can be dangerous. Staring in the face everyday what we don’t have yet is focusing on what we lack.
I don’t want to be obsessed with what I don’t possess. I want to feel the abundance of what life has already given me.
Getting rid of our material possessions may be hard but losing the mindset of always wanting is a lot harder.
There’s a lot of things I want for myself this year, material and non-material. However I cannot be focused on my goals if I’m constantly working with an image of all the things I want in the back of my mind.
So I have come to a logical conclusion.
In 2017 I am going to start getting rid of all the things I don’t have.
Who’s with me?
Do you have wants and desires that keep you from enjoying the here and now?
I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments.
*Photo Credit: Keoni Cabral flickr Creative Commons 2.0