today, there seems to be a widespread sense of not being good enough, not meeting the standards of society. being content is out of fashion, and instead, feeling inadequate has become the default state. we're too fat, too short, too stupid, too poor, too plain, too emotional, too weak, too old, you name it. it has become a popular sport to find ourselves lacking in some way or another.
we feel we need something, or many different things, but actually, what it is we feel we need is irrelevant. the point is, we are never satisfied with what we have. this can be seen on a personal level, when we have a whole wardrobe full of perfectly good clothes, but compulsively buy more because the ones we have are not quite right for some reason. it can also be seen on a larger scale. companies focus their strategies on growing ever bigger. whole nations base their success on economic growth. we are not satisfied with stably doing well enough to cover the survival and basic comfort costs of all people involved in an endeavour, we want ever more. everything needs to be bigger and better than last year, and bigger and better than what the others have. because we are never satisfied with what we have, we never stop striving. way beyond the point where we have all we need for our safety and wellbeing. because of our feeling of need, we keep on taking, ignorant of our due share of resources.
our planet cannot cope with such a large number of people, all of whom are overexploiting it. if everyone was to stick to what they truly need for survival and a bit of comfort, the picture would be quite different. but for that, we would have to become satisfied with what we have. with who we are. we would have to start valuing ourselves and our place in life, be unfashionable by not letting ourselves feel inadequate, just because that is what everyone else does. wild, huh.
turns out, what we truly need is no thing. it's a different mindset. a mindset of gratitude. a mindset of plenty. a mindset of cherishing what we are given in this world. of seeing what we have instead of always finding the one thing that's still missing for us to be happy. a mindset of, actually, I am OK just the way I am.
if we all did this, eventually, it would become the new normal. social acceptability would not be defined by virtually unattainable utopian dreams of blonde hair, skinny bodies, large bank accounts and luxury holidays. it would be defined by acceptance, love, content, gratitude, compassion, understanding, support, and connection.
I sure know what type of social acceptability I would prefer.
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