How To Overcome Compulsive Consumerism? 3 Remedies

How To Overcome Compulsive Consumerism? 3 Remedies
Do you really need one more thing?

About to compulsively buy The Next Shiny Object? Wait. Do you really need all these new things?

With pinches of happiness here and there, life is brief, happiness flees quickly, and the rest bores you to death. Thus, if it makes you happy for 24 hours or only for five minutes, why refrain from indulging in weekly shopping sprees? After all, it’s creating profits for some. Yet it’s sad for the exploited hands that create the things you don’t need but want. Everyone must make a living because everyone needs a few things and wants everything.

Driving through fate empty, low on feelings, it’s easy to positively boost one’s optimism with the world’s most prestigious ways of life. Especially since your minds are sold non-stop reality TV through social media platforms where your private lives are commercialized, and influenced by a celebrity culture those new rock stars are entrepreneurs put on pedestals.

Meanwhile, the mass media terrorized you with global warming warnings, with overpopulation, with plagues and economic collapse – but relax… all is going to end well. Because your childish leaders are talking about it… talking and talking about how purchasing the latest magic wand will make you wiser, luckier, and happier.

Daily, you’re fed hopes of winning tickets by those owning the Bingo, the Lotto, and all purses opened in the casinos in which producers and consumers came to fall in the same trap; the first must keep producing junk stuff to be consumed by the latest who must keep consuming… infuriating the planet to be admired and valued by minds who associate To Consume with To Succeed.

Because your twisted hearts are all in the same sinking boat, they are gasping for breath, they too want more love to stop their insomnia’s refusal to sleep alone, but does having better objects equate to having better relationships? Does a good relationship with yourself happen only amongst high tech gadgets? Surely, there must be a middle ground to be found in between not needing and not wanting.

Why not simply ask a bunch of Impulsive Shoppers after they’re done, arguing, with a group of Virgoans Minimalists about making eco-friendly savings rather than wasting, dumping, discarding; over-consuming? The thing is The Ecologists and The Recyclists cycling to vegan owned charity shops to economize on fuel, calculated that the world will perish if The Hedonists carry on indulging in fuming the earth to inflate their obese self-gratification; a gluttony devotee to the atheistic belief that this incarnation is the only one. Such pleasure seekers are regarded as selfish tramplers on the things most sacred to humanity.

However, a Hedonist insisted, “Hang on you ignorant. Haven’t you heard that our extreme spending benefits all? You call me horrible but behind the scenes and the gossip, I am an honorable person doing wonderful acts of compassion. Plus, when it’s too late, when all of us, here, already are too close to the edge, about to fall. When we already are hanging by one foot above the crocodile river, why should we stop indulging our cravings in the last scents of hope, in the last things that aren’t yet too plastic to eat or too toxic to touch?

As light as a fly in your hand, we are mere pawns in the game of life. So how are we to know for sure, if we are to know everything, and what are we supposed to do about it? Maybe nothing, maybe only existing without killing. Mind you it’s true some murder for fun, and our dear mother nature does too. Haven’t you seen someone being hurt for fun, for no reason other than walking slowly on a sunny Sunday afternoon and being struck dead by lightning? Don’t you think your kind sky watches innocents fall and die without laughing? Well, don’t be ashamed, relax, admit it, you have a guilty pleasure too, don’t you? So what if mine is consumerism? Yes addicted I am, so what? I own it. I am proud of not being one of your herd members.

Me and my brotherhood here, see clearly through your charade! And as far as we’re concerned no two people agree on what ‘Being Good’ is supposed to mean or how to practice it? Look at you… you’re nice but you have no facts, you have no proof.

So tell me why should we believe that you’re intent is pure, and your acts compassionate? And if you think that it’s pure, simply because it comes from you, think again. Because we perceive you and your blissful denial of the suffering that can be observed everywhere, as bad. First, you were confused then mistaken, now you’re disheartened as you discover that the shit is deep; that awakening is not what you think – and what are you going to do about it?

A Virgo health and sanity maniac teamed up with a Taurus earth preservation obsessed, and a godly in love Pisces couple whose martyrdom was submissive after so many tiring years of surrendering to everything. The trio was as synchronized as a church choir, Your heart, if you have one, it has wildfires in it! A virus pollutes your soul so your words are rubbish to our earth. Are your ears full of beeswax? You stink like a hundred years sofa that was occupied every evening by the same posterior, we can tell it was crisps and sodas near the remote control. But you’ve lost control of your life. Shower, tidy up then listen up.

We always encourage the newbies at being disappointed that we met to add colors into their gloomy existence by means of saintly short pleasures with soulmates and millions of Hallelujahs mixed with Hail Bloody Marys. But you… you know-it-all, you have no morals, only shopping lists. Unfortunately, we can’t sell you our morals, and even if… That wouldn’t be ethical. You know what that word means? Yes ethical… concepts of right and wrong behavior, heard of? Been to church? Read some philosophy? Nevermind. No, we’re not done yet. One last detail, don’t you think it’s perverse… How twisted is it to make yourselves feel better while the world gets worse? Does witnessing chaos arise in you a murderous desire to participate in inflicting cruelty in return? It’s wrong, it’s toxic, all of this, all of you are vicious. It’s insidious to accept our coming self-extinction as granted because nothing is for certain, miracles do happen. We advise you to send out optimistic vibes that can awaken the hippie hearts of our planet’s lightworkers; our lives saviors.

The Libras were occupied at deliberating on who was right and what was fair. Nonetheless, they wrote a temporary statement about their position on the matter at hand, Everyone was given a blessing at birth: Some are luckier than others. Some richer than others. Some smarter than others. Some, one of the above, others none or all of the above. Is it karmic, is it random? We still can’t make up our mind, although it’s true that nature is cruel, sometimes for reasons that defy all logic. Perhaps life is paranormal? We are still undecided… we must take all sides into account. Please understand, we can’t be unfair and we can’t be too fair… We need more time to consider all sides of the story before acting, we wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings and risk disagreeing.

Altogether, everyone seems to care enough about consumerism to at least have an opinion on the subject. That is why, meeting in the middle ground is a good place to start implementing solutions for tempering the self-destructive habit of purchasing, useless items, destined to sleep unworn in full cupboards.

Burning cupboards into the cellar or overcoming excesses?

To refrain from falling into endless consumerism cycles, here are three remedies to apply daily to the uncontrollable consumerist’s lifestyle:

1. Skip advertising.

In a world that feeds you with the idea that more is better, reducing your exposure to consumerist messages is a great way to resist the subliminal influence of TV commercials that tell your subconscious what to want, until your impulses want to buy more of what you don’t need anymore.

Reorganizing reality into something more bearable, these nagging publicities are comforting, yet they are fantasies; they dilute your capability to deal with the world as it is; You are locked in between who you used to be and what you truly are, trying to act like who you would like to be liked by – because becoming your sanest version isn’t possible until you choose to investigate why, on this earth, a large number of lives are predominantly grim and empty. In the living room, a large number of lives enjoy ignoring that existence has always been and continues to be exposed to baffling follies, catastrophic joys, and taxing vices. Awareness is safe, delusions dangerous.

2. Value your time and keep track of how your energy is spent.

Even if not all people are fitted to survive a spiritual voyage into the darkest corners of their mind, schedule quality time with yourself, rest in joyful feelings, and reflect on the meaning of your life. Are you really hungry for more or are you in fact seeking soulful human connections and activities which can’t be bought? One’s capacity for unconditional love is one’s undoing.

When the longing for better stuff starts to show its expensive price tags, rather than chasing the next shiny object outside yourself, you’ll be happier by transforming dissatisfaction into the motivation to invest in the relationship that matters most; the one with yourself. Make space and save as much of your energy as you can to do what you love.

3. Bohemianism

Bohemianism is a rebellious lifestyle against materialism, corporations, and the widespread belief that we have not enough since we’re never good enough. Hence we should rush from home to jobs, from expressos to tranquilizers, from consuming to achieving more and more, to be more.

In contrast, bohemians stand for self-reflection and for being in tune with their true nature. They resist fearing peers’ pressures to neglect their mental and artistic development, they choose tranquility over brooding on the tormenting condition the world is in. By all means, whatever the situation, get rid of hopelessness as it does not help. Refashion your weekends, become a bohemian by imagining and doing something new each day, swim, practice yoga, say ‘Hasta la vista’ to lethal people in your life, and let your wishful thinking work overtime instead.

Know that a good way to live more sustainably is to eat local organic foods. And it’s soul-refreshing to be virtuous at pursuing a meaningful dream that focuses on bringing positive impact to society through working with and respecting other cultures. Thus, take the eagle view of the bigger picture, stretch your optimistic wings above pessimism to an exit route out of shopaholism.

Scroll to Top