❌ The Problem With Wanting Things

I know that life is not about actually satisfying the want; it’s about using it.

the things we desire really do little other than fuel further desires and teach us what greed is. In the accumulation of material things, no deep satisfaction is to be found, other than fleeting pleasure and the temporary delight of impressing others. Both of these are short-lived (before we return to our default level of happiness), and ultimately

The problem, though, is that once they fulfill a desire for something, they adapt to its presence in their life and as a result stop desiring it—or at any rate, don’t find it as desirable as they once did. They end up just as dissatisfied as they were before fulfilling the desire. One key to happiness, then, is to forestall the adaptation process:

With this in mind you should be conscious of what prizes you bet your chips trying to win – you should prioritise the things that bring you joy and deprioritise trying to attain hard-fought prizes that deliver nothing more than negativity, anxiety and illusion.