If I handed you AU$2,000 right now – what would you do with it?
Fun fact: Australians, on average, shell out more than $160 a month, just to store all the stuff we can’t squeeze into our homes!
And I use the word ‘we’ intentionally because . . . my hand is raised . . . guilty. In my defence, my storage container was to temporarily store furniture and other items while my house was being renovated for a few months.
That’s okay, right!
However, three years later it was still there. By the time I emptied it out, like many people who store their treasured possessions, I had no clue what was there. Much of it was either sold, given away, or went to the dump as it was no longer required. Like much of the stuff in other peoples’ storage containers, after a while.
How do we end up with all this stuff?
It starts off with good intentions; storing grandma’s furniture when she goes into her new home, but let’s be brutally honest, we know full well she is never going to need it again.
A hobby that started out small but got a bit out of control and the ultimatum is given, either they go, or I go. And you know you can’t put your partner in a storage container.
Household goods we no longer need, but there’s faint hope that the kids will, one day, leave home and want them for their own homes.
And my personal favourite; gym equipment/bikes/kayaks etc all stored with the sole purpose of giving dust a surface to settle on.
All this stuff is overwhelming, so we store it – out of sight, out of mind.
Does having lots of stuff make us happy?
We’ve probably all done it, purchased something to give us a little bit of joy. Whether the purchase is impulsive, budgeted-for or just a bargain, it doesn’t matter. However, the sad reality is, that buying a possession will not fully satisfy our pursuit of happiness.
There, I’ve said it, and I’ll repeat it; possessions will not fully satisfy our pursuit of happiness. Sure, it may for a short while, but the joy will diminish over time.
Japanese minimalist expert, Marie Kondo, advises us we shouldn’t keep things if they don’t spark joy. Does any of the stuff in storage containers across Australia spark joy in the hearts of the people who placed them there? Probs not!
So, what do we do? As Marie Kondo suggests, if you’re unsure what to do with an item, hold it close to you and if it doesn’t spark joy, get rid of it (probs best not to do this experiment with your kids, especially if you have teens, they rarely spark joy). Make the decision to either sell it, give it, or dump it. Again, not with the kids. They are for keeps.
So if stuff doesn’t make us happy, what does?
I think we all know the answer to this one. Experiences!
Whatever your disposable income level is, some experiences will give you more happiness than buying an item will. Even if that item is something you’ve wanted for a long time and worked hard to get.
Some clever scientists have even proven it. They have shown that the joy or happiness from a purchased item diminishes over time, even expensive purchases like a car or high-end jewellery, whereas the joy from an experience increases.
Here’s an example, a few years ago my kids desperately wanted a rip-stick. It’s like a skateboard but it wobbles more. Anyway, for an eight and 11 year old these were the bees-knees.
The kids cleaned cars, vacuumed floors, dusted, polished, begged, stole, and borrowed until they had enough money to purchase said item. They both mastered riding it and were pretty-damned good at it in no time. However, I could not believe how quickly their interest in the rip stick vanished.
Around this time, we went to China for a holiday, and even now if I mention the disgusting sausages we were given in our packed lunches while hiking The Great Wall they will talk animatedly about that experience for ages laughing, reminiscing, bringing up other memories from that trip.
What happens with bad experiences?
Ten years ago, Dr. Thomas Gilovich, a psychology professor at Cornell University, USA, showed that even if people have a bad experience, which initially negatively impacted their happiness they will, over time, turn that experience into a positive one in their memory.
Dr Gilovich states that the reason they feel happier over time is because not only did they survive to tell the tale, but they also gain kudos from re-counting the story over the dinner table amongst peers. Plus, they build resilience through their character-building experience.
Whilst travelling with a group in Ethiopia the bus our group were travelling in accidentally ran over the most expensive goat in the country. It wasn’t a special goat, but it became very expensive when the young goat herder, who clearly had an entrepreneurial flare even at his tender age of seven, saw it was a vehicle full of ferenji – white foreigners – who could afford to compensate him well.
It’s a $%^#* Goat!
Although the thought of the goat being injured was distressing for both the passengers and the herder alike, all remember that experience with humour (apart from the injured goat of course). As they retell the story of how the young boy in ragged clothes in remote Ethiopia managed to swindle worldly and highly educated Australians out of their hard-earned cash as compensation. And keep the goat for eating later.
All this happiness derived from experiences possibly has more to do with connection than anything else. We share each experience with others, even if the experience is on our own. The recounting to others brings connections as people listen in and share their own experiences too.
So where are we going with all this? Simple . . . travel is one of the greatest happiness-inducing and educational experiences you can ever possibly have. Don’t you agree?
But wait, there’s more . . .
Did you know that recent research from Edith Cowan University suggests that travel may have some surprising health perks, including helping to slow the signs of ageing? Stay tuned to find out more!
