Do you really need it, or just want it?

The difference between wants and needs.

The Advertising industry. Their sole goal is to make you believe that all your wants are actual needs.

That isn’t good for your stress, gratitude, etc.

Are you familiar with the phrase “Hedonic Adaptation”?

A common vicious cycle we get stuck in, also known as the hedonic treadmill.
It’s a system in which we chase material possessions, only to attain them,
quickly get used to them, and then bored by them, to reset and chase the next item.

it’s referred to as “the hedonic treadmill” because we always end up where we started.

Any new source of pleasure we obtain whether it’s the latest mobile phone with 10 billion terabytes,
or even getting married, can swiftly get relegated to the backdrop of some people’s lives.
If you let yourself become accustomed to it, it ceases to deliver so much joy.

In a famous example of hedonic adaptation, a study asked both apparently lucky and unlucky respondents to rate their happiness.
Some had won between $50.000 and $1 million in state lotteries within the last year,
while others had become paraplegic or quadriplegic as a result of accidents.
Results showed that the lottery winners were no happier than people in general,
and that the accident victims still judged themselves to be happy (though somewhat less happy than people in general).
This showed that people adapt to even the best and worst of fortunes.”

So ask yourself, do you really need it, or just want it?