We are living a life where we cannot seem to be satisfied with anything. We have just saved enough money to buy a car but we’ve got to earn more to buy that latest iPhone. We have just drunk a bottle of wine and we’re tipsy but we have got to go get some shots to get drunk tonight!
We have just been on an amazing date; the food was amazing, the conversation engaging and the connection was very strong but my partner did not want to have sex. We had a fun night out but my other group of friends went partying and I felt left out. We are living in a society driven by roles and expectations and live a life characterised by the fear of missing out. This leads us to focus on what we are not experiencing and forget to acknowledge and appreciate what we currently have.
A possible reason for feeling like you cannot get enough of something or someone is because we tend to attribute value for ourselves or our achievements to an external object. This continues on the idea that focusing on the outside is easier than actually working on your issues and giving ourselves credit for what we do and for who we are proves to be more difficult than it appears. Social media is also a huge influence when it comes to this phenomenon – it bombards us with a ton of products being promoted, depicting them as though each product is better than the other and as though it is a necessity, convincing us to constantly seek more, never stopping to value what you have in your possession.
Feeling like you cannot get enough is not just affected by temptations from the outside world but also from inside your soul. You might feel like you are not doing enough so you seek to compensate by always wanting more from the outside world instead of giving what you need to yourself, internally. You might feel like you are not good enough so you strive to feel better about yourself by filling your life with material things or engaging in too many different tasks to keep yourself occupied in an attempt to not get consumed by your negative thoughts and to give yourself a reason to keep going. Whatever the reason is, we are all living in this world where forces – both internal and external – keep pushing and pulling as we try to reach a state of equilibrium, peace and contentment.
In part 2 of this blog, we will explore ways we can combat this desire for more.
Luanne Grima is a psychology student who works as a childminder with Willingness. She also forms part of Betapsi.