For certain, many people will die out of depression, heart attacks, sadness and constant thinking/worrying about certain material things when they lose them—an occurrence which has no space in the lives of a few smart people.
Recently, I was on a holiday with a female friend who lost her self-bought diamond ring which she claimed to have purchased for £9000 while swimming in the sea—and the rest of the days on the island turned into a world of depression for her.
Since she wouldn’t stop crying and she wouldn’t stop going on about her lost expensive ring and since I couldn’t afford to hand over to her £9000 cash to end the constant cry, I decided to ask some hard but real questions.
When I asked if she had taken out any sort of insurance for the ring, she said she checked on insurance during the purchase but the monthly payments were too expensive so she did not take one. At this stage, I said, “the fact that you cannot afford insurance on an expensive diamond ring simple means; you could not afford the ring too but you got it anyway”. And by this, I meant, she should not have bought that ring if she could not afford to lose it.
I can afford some expensive material things on a go but when it comes to such things, I do not purchase them because I simply can afford to buy them or want them—the most important catch for my evaluation is, can I afford to lose them?
Many people have several highly expensive things (subjective) in their possession and they take pride in the fact that they actually own these things. There is nothing wrong with owning expensive things if you like them and you can afford them. But the affordability concept must stretch to cover; can you afford to lose them without losing your mind or entire life?
Probably, I can afford a £30,000 BMW car but I do not own one. I have a BMW which is far less expensive and I can afford to lose it without actually getting worried. If I wake up tomorrow and my BMW is stolen, I will be pissed for a minute but that is how far I will go. I wouldn’t have to spend days or hours indoors, crying over it as my friend did over her lost ring.
I know someone who owns a Porsche and anytime the car breaks down, he goes into hibernation because he cannot bring himself to accept the Porsche Garage charges and spare parts cost. Imagine what will happen to this friend if the car gets stolen or crashed into by a run-away driver? I bet he will fall dead on his pot belly…
Living far below your standard may seem weird but to be frank, it gives the greatest peace of mind and safeguards you from all manner of self-inflicting emotional distress which eventually cuts down your short days in this world—and protects you from many headaches in the short term.
Many people do not consider the question; what is the point in owning things they cannot afford to lose, simply because they care too much about parading their worth or place their desire/want for things beyond the associated consequence should whatever they own disappear—which, there is a high probability of it happening.
Life is full of worries which we have no control over but to add more to the already existing ones by joining the train of expensive goods ownership when you cannot really afford these goods means, you are ready to cut your own life short by not taking control of the things you have control over.
The beauty of life is ingrained in simplicity. And mostly, the less expensive things and lifestyle define simplicity.
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