House Lust
Ever suffer from house lust? Of course you have! I'm thinking everyone does at some point or another. In my case I think it was from overdosing on HGTV, you know, seeing all those beautiful homes and thinking 'why don't I have a house like that?' The more I watched that channel, the more my dissatisfaction grew.
And it was silly really. I'd bought my modest townhouse at age 30, and by age 40 I'd completely paid off the mortgage. No small accomplishment for a single woman. So why did I feel so lousy when I compared my situation and what I had to the homes on tv? Being constantly bombarded with images of beautiful homes with stainless steal appliances and granite counters in the kitchen was actually eroding my contentment level and giving me a restless feeling, like I needed to find a way to get myself a better house.
So I unsubscribed to HGTV.
And it worked! My contentment level rose when I stopped viewing the images and the urge to up-size went away. I think it's human nature to look around us and compare what we have to what others have. I'll go so far as to say it's probably some primitive survival mechanism. After all, the caveman with more fur pelts and more spears out-survived the caveman who had less, so once upon a time it benefitted us to compare our possessions to others and try to eradicate any perceived imbalance, but what worked in pre-historic times isn't very useful today. Having granite countertops isn't going to ensure my survival in any way.
So unsubscribing to HGTV fixed my house lust problem but then I began another habit that got me into trouble: I started scouting the online real estate listings, ostensibly because my sister is looking for a house (eventually) and I thought I'd help out by keeping my eye on the market. But what happened? You guessed it. Dissatisfaction with my own house set in once again.
But I came across a website the other day with accompanying photos that completely wiped out any of the dissatisfaction I was feeling about my own circumstances. Check it out:
http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/100x100/
It's 100 photos of rooms at Hong Kong's oldest social housing project. Each room is only 100 square feet...that's about 10x10, the size of a small bedroom. I don't think we can even comprehend housing this small in North America, unless it's very temporary housing, like college dorm rooms. But these are actual long-term housing units. The photos fascinated me, I was both appalled at the conditions and awed by the residents able to make do with such restricted accomodations.
But the best part was this: looking at the photos totally cured my house lust. Suddenly I was extremely grateful and appreciative of my own house, that has actual windows and even a small backyard. Not to mention a bathroom and a kitchen (both of which are absent from the Hong Kong units, I assume those would be shared facilities).
Anyway, lesson learned: if ever I become dissatisfied with what I have the answer is to look for instances where others have even less, as a reminder to myself of how truly blessed I am and not to take what I have for granted.
And of course, to stay away from HGTV. :)
Marie
And it was silly really. I'd bought my modest townhouse at age 30, and by age 40 I'd completely paid off the mortgage. No small accomplishment for a single woman. So why did I feel so lousy when I compared my situation and what I had to the homes on tv? Being constantly bombarded with images of beautiful homes with stainless steal appliances and granite counters in the kitchen was actually eroding my contentment level and giving me a restless feeling, like I needed to find a way to get myself a better house.
So I unsubscribed to HGTV.
And it worked! My contentment level rose when I stopped viewing the images and the urge to up-size went away. I think it's human nature to look around us and compare what we have to what others have. I'll go so far as to say it's probably some primitive survival mechanism. After all, the caveman with more fur pelts and more spears out-survived the caveman who had less, so once upon a time it benefitted us to compare our possessions to others and try to eradicate any perceived imbalance, but what worked in pre-historic times isn't very useful today. Having granite countertops isn't going to ensure my survival in any way.
So unsubscribing to HGTV fixed my house lust problem but then I began another habit that got me into trouble: I started scouting the online real estate listings, ostensibly because my sister is looking for a house (eventually) and I thought I'd help out by keeping my eye on the market. But what happened? You guessed it. Dissatisfaction with my own house set in once again.
But I came across a website the other day with accompanying photos that completely wiped out any of the dissatisfaction I was feeling about my own circumstances. Check it out:
http://www.photomichaelwolf.com/100x100/
It's 100 photos of rooms at Hong Kong's oldest social housing project. Each room is only 100 square feet...that's about 10x10, the size of a small bedroom. I don't think we can even comprehend housing this small in North America, unless it's very temporary housing, like college dorm rooms. But these are actual long-term housing units. The photos fascinated me, I was both appalled at the conditions and awed by the residents able to make do with such restricted accomodations.
But the best part was this: looking at the photos totally cured my house lust. Suddenly I was extremely grateful and appreciative of my own house, that has actual windows and even a small backyard. Not to mention a bathroom and a kitchen (both of which are absent from the Hong Kong units, I assume those would be shared facilities).Anyway, lesson learned: if ever I become dissatisfied with what I have the answer is to look for instances where others have even less, as a reminder to myself of how truly blessed I am and not to take what I have for granted.
And of course, to stay away from HGTV. :)
Marie
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testing this out