Living in London has rendered me poverty-stricken. Don't send any money - it hasn't reached World Vision status just yet, the situation merely is that I can afford to pay rent, eat, have a couple of scotches a week and that's it.
And what more is there to life? you might rightly ask. However, it is undeniably true that I like buying clothes. Not in a creepy, retail-therapy-obsessed, 'possessions give my life meaning' kind of way. I just like buying clothes, and putting together new outfits. Anyway, this lack of funds is apparently the result of something known as the 'Credit Crunchie' - I don't quite get what having no money has to do with chocolate bars, and in fact, I think Adam Smith really has a lot to answer for. Regardless, this state of affairs has curbed my spending habits to an unprecedented degree, ie. I have been living in London for exactly one month, and I have bought two items: a black singlet, and some fierce black patent gladiator stilettos. and both of these were purchased last week, so I had at least a three week gap of buying no clothing at all.
And yet this was not as depressing as you think it'd be. In fact, it was somewhat liberating: I knew I couldn't afford to buy anything, and so I didn't. And I have to say, I believe the shopping down-time I had made the eventual purchase even more reward than it would otherwise have been. It's the same feeling as the first scotch after a dry week, a massage after 5 months of backpacking, or a hot shower after 5 days straight of Oktoberfest festivities.
My point is, we live in times that rate instant gratification above all other things, which is fine, and perhaps even preferable 99% of the time. However, every now and again it is necessary to wait for things that we really want - be it 3 weeks, or more than a year. But far from draining the joy out of the experience, or weakening our interest and motivation, this delay can make the experience all the more worth it in the end - even if it's only for one per cent of the time.
And now I'm going to go have a Crunchie.
And yet this was not as depressing as you think it'd be. In fact, it was somewhat liberating: I knew I couldn't afford to buy anything, and so I didn't. And I have to say, I believe the shopping down-time I had made the eventual purchase even more reward than it would otherwise have been. It's the same feeling as the first scotch after a dry week, a massage after 5 months of backpacking, or a hot shower after 5 days straight of Oktoberfest festivities.
My point is, we live in times that rate instant gratification above all other things, which is fine, and perhaps even preferable 99% of the time. However, every now and again it is necessary to wait for things that we really want - be it 3 weeks, or more than a year. But far from draining the joy out of the experience, or weakening our interest and motivation, this delay can make the experience all the more worth it in the end - even if it's only for one per cent of the time.
And now I'm going to go have a Crunchie.
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