people > stuff

Whether it be Black Friday, Cyber Monday or the holiday shopping season, no matter where we look, millions of us run after things. 

In the midst of chaos, we often get carried away and go in a shopping spree making all kinds of irrational decisions. Soon, we buy stuff not as gifts to celebrate others and our relationships with them, but instead we buy things to impress them, to win their love, to compensate for our absence in their life, and quite selfishly, just to feel better about ourselves and get the dopamine hit after making a certain purchase. 

We don’t need stuff to enhance relationships. If your relationships are fueled by stuff, then you’re in the wrong ones. In fact, we need to do the exact opposite. If we want our relationships to truly prosper, then we must let go of stuff and simply focus on spending more time, attention, and presence with the people we love and adore.

We don’t need to gift items to the most important people in our life, we can simply gift them a smile and an extra-long hug even it seems awkward. 

As the Minimalists say, “Love people. Use things. The opposite never works.”