Materialism

So, for the past few weeks or so I have actually, philosophically been TRYING to take a small voyage through the land of materialism and self-gratification. This has been a carefully measured and planned voyage, mostly to just test out new waters I have never previously tried....and you know what...it's actually pretty nice.
Now I KNOW that there is nothing healthy to be gained out of "stuff" and selfish behavior, but I now also see that there is nothing to be gained in purposely depriving one's self. One of the most ground-breaking discoveries I've had this year is that every path will turn out empty if you did not choose it for yourself. Every path.

So, my foray into materialism and self-gratification goes a little something like this. "Oh look! Something I want is for sale. I have my own money. I think I'll buy it." * montage of megan enjoying the thing she bought*

"Oh look! An event I wanted to attend! I think I'll go to it!"
*montage of megan going to event and enjoying it, and then thinking about it afterward*

"Oh look. Something I don't want to do! I think I'll ignore it and do what I want to do instead."
*montage of megan sleeping or watching clips of political satire online*




Now, making this way of life a philosophy for the last few weeks ( it will all end on new year's day) has really opened my eyes. For me, anyway, it's actually been somewhat of a spiritual growth experience. I sometimes think that, women especially, grow spiritually by making MORE allowances for themselves, not less. I'm not saying that it's good to ride the tidal wave of hedonism into the black cliffs of self-destruction. I have, however, come to the conclusion with this philosophical experiment that there is a lot more wiggle room than we think and that pampering and appeasing one's-self is actually really ridiculously healthy. Not to say I'm not still a control freak or that I do not value self-control ( DUDE...self-control and I go WAAAAY back. If self-control was a man, we'd have like 300 kids by now. I LOVE SEFL-CONTROL...tis my favorite virtue) but I see that other people have validity in their indulgence and materialism. So there.