Don’t buy things, buy an experience…

Vacations are just around the corner and most of us already have a holiday destination in mind. Some of us have even decided what to wear and what to shop for wherever we plan to spend our summers! But is it actually the merchandise or is it something else, something more which makes us so happy?

Happiness, according to me, is a content of moment-to-moment experiences. 

Nothing material is intrinsically valuable,  except in whatever promise of happiness it carries. Satisfaction of possession doesn’t come during the moment it is acquired, of course. It may come as anticipation or nostalgic longing. Overall, though, the achievement

 of human mind to contemplate events of the past and future, at great tedious length has come at expense of happiness. 

Minds tend to wander to dark, not whimsical,  places unless it has something exciting to anticipate or sweet to remember. Hence, it is the experience and not the things we buy, that engraves itself into our memories and last for good.

"A wandering mind is an unhappy mind” for the mind belongs to only a single place at a time. Around half of the time, the human mind wanders to different places than where it shall rather be and things, no matter how expensive or rare, fail to capture its attention. An abundance of psychological research in the past decade shows that experiences bring more happiness to people than possessions. That’s why experiential purchases like trips, concerts, movies et cetera, easily trump material purchases such as cosmetics and souvenirs. 

When was the last time you remember a Metallica T-shirt, bought off an online store, bringing you as much joy as the one you’ve got your hands on in a live Metallica concert? Or would that book ever manage to make it to your ‘handle with care’ list if it wasn’t for that one-hour-long wait you went through to get it autographed by your favourite author?

Waiting for an experience elicits more happiness and excitement than waiting for material goods which, by contrast, brings about more impatience than anticipation. You can look forward to a delicious meal or a pre-planned vacation. But how different does it feel to wait for a pre-ordered i-phone? Like the 2-day express delivery of amazon isn’t ‘express’ enough! What is counter logical is that a trip might not last as long as a 70K i-phone but the experience stays forever in our memories whereas, the phone, purchasing which seemed more tangible at one time, is mere material and its new, shiny surface will not stay new forever and in time, you’d get used to it.

Maybe, what tends to make people happier about experiences is that its value is less likely to be measured in terms of anything. I don’t want to be on a negative note when it comes to purchase and shopping. It’s just that things do bring joy but they also bring about regrets and comparisons. Also, it’s a lot about what other people think about it when you buy something (like is your car bigger than theirs or is your dress more pricey or did they get that last exclusive autographed cricket ball just because they’re the cousin of a local politician?).  

On the contrary, a good or bad experience is totally oblivious to money or influence. The definition of a perfect experience may vary  across people from different cultural, economic and social backgrounds but the delight stays forever unlike the phones, gadgets, clothes, et cetera which deteriorate or become obsolete and so, they become ‘less perfect’ in time.

 Lastly, all I can say is that a ‘thing’ gone bad is useless but an experience gone bad still has potential to be the plot of an amazing story (or at least a dinner table anecdote)! It’s up to you to decide the right mix of material and experiential consumption to maximize your well-being. So this vacation, don’t just buy pretty things, buy yourself a wonderful experience!