I sat at my table the other day, drinking some coffee, and got to thinking about all of the things that we tend to buy that we feel define who we are. I have a series of cups that I collect. They're robust, well built, and probably cost too much - but I like them. Most people I know both in and outside of the office know I'm the guy with 'those cups'. They're a part of my identity at this point. This was one of many thoughts I had at that moment, which, in my world, always spurs other thoughts. That's where this post begins.
Every day we find ways to fill our lives with stuff. We purchase items we feel will fill a gap, we replace this thing with that thing, we move one old thing out and bring one new thing in. We have a lot of stuff. I'm not saying that stuff is bad. What I am saying, however, is when we start to look at the things we bring into our lives, and the things we remove from our lives, we'll quickly start to build an identity of who we are. The challenge, then, is what kind of identity are we building?
When the world around us tells us that we need this and we need that, and we listen, we quickly start to conform our identity to what the world wants it to be. We lose ourselves and we replace it with something else. A fundamental problem occurs along this axiom as we all can't have the same stuff as someone else. This instantaneously gives us a checklist of I have this or they don't have that. Our identity, then, becomes a constant comparison. We start to build our lives as a competition against someone else - without ever knowing them, the path they're walking, their history, their anything.
The issue isn't that stuff is bad. The issue is when the stuff becomes our identity to such a degree that it gives us a basis of comparison to judge others - then we do so. The question becomes, what are we really assessing? It's not the person. We're comparing the stuff against the stuff. We lose our humanity; we lose ourselves, to the stuff. What's heartbreaking is to know that through the battle of the stuff, people all around us give up on endeavors because they feel like they can't, because they don't have the 'right stuff'. Without 'this', they can't complete 'that'.
Here's my point. We all have things in our life. Some are new, some are old, but none of them should ever become the basis of comparison to how we approach life. I'm happy and content to be known as the guy that drinks copious amount of coffee from really big cups. I'd also be just as happy to be known as the guy who drinks coffee from a flimsy paper cup. I'm just a guy that likes to drink coffee; it has nothing to do with the cup.
When our lives become too centered on the brand name, the design, the label, the glam and glitter, then we're nothing more than the stuff. When the stuff we have is just stuff, and we realize that it is you and I at the center, then we are all on equal footing. We all have the same ability to try, to make our own path, to be the best self that we can be. All of the stuff in the world can never change that. It's just stuff. Now, it's time for more coffee.
Justin