Lifestyles by Estelia… Learn to Live With Less Stuff!

It shouldn’t come as a surprise if I say we live in a world of “big box” stores and 24-hour online shopping opportunities.  But there isn’t any indication that any of these things makes us happier; in fact, I dare say the reverse may be true.  In a study title “Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century” researchers at UCLA observed 32 middle-class Los Angeles families and found that all of the mothers’ stress hormones spiked during the time they spent dealing with their belongings.  A whopping 75-percent of the families couldn’t park their cars in their garages because they were jammed with things! I believe that intuitively we know that the best things in life aren’t really things at all.  What’s important are relationships, experiences and meaningful work.  These are the staples to a happy life.  I’ve come to learn that after a certain point, material objects begin to crowd out the emotional needs they were meant to support.  In other words, material things take up mental as well as physical space.  My advice ….. Simplify.  Learn to live with less and in the end you will live with more.