A lot of good and conscious people will say they don't care about 'the nice things'.
It's perceived that 'the nice things' are excessive, selfish, and wasteful.
Those who seek 'the nice things' are often seen as materialistic, and it's thought that they've lost sight of what actually matters.
The truth is, we've lost sight of what 'the nice things' can actually be:
- Open your wardrobe and see a cheap polyester t-shirt from a sweatshop on the other side of the world, or an organic fair-trade button-up shirt...
- Open your jewellery box and see fake tarnished yellow rings that will soon break, or handmade gold rings that will be passed down to the next generation...
- Look in your fridge and see discounted sausages from depressed animals, or grass-finished meat from a local permaculture farm...
- Look around your home and see cheap toxic furniture that has a short lifespan, or hand-crafted quality furniture built to last...
- Look in your fruit bowl and see wax-covered monocrop apples, or bio-dynamic and organic peaches hand picked by people that are paid properly...
- Open your childs bedroom and see cheap disposable plastic toys, or handmade wooden toys that can be passed down to another family...
- Look at your wrist and see a smart watch that will end up in landfill leaking battery acid when the firmware goes out of date, or a solid gold Rolex that will tell the time for hundreds of years without the need for a battery...
- Look at the produce you grow at home and see a wilted basil plant on the windowsill of your studio apartment, or a garden growing fruits and vegetables you can share with others...
- Look at an injustice in the world and donate $20 to helping, or have the wealth to create actual impact...
See... we're often shamed into thinking 'the nice things' are excessive, selfish, and wasteful.
But it is actually the footprint of those with less resources which can often cause the largest problems, whether they mean to or not.
Provided you are intentional with where your money goes, you can actually do far more good in this world by buying 'the nice things'.
The irony is...
When you shame 'the nice things', you can inadvertently put yourself into a state of mind where you reject the idea of creating wealth.
Slowly survival-mode becomes your default.
And then all those 'nice things' that can contribute to a better world are now completely out of your reach.
It becomes the disposable, the mass produced, and the toxic, which are the only options within your budget.
But...
When you understand the importance of consciously selected 'nice things' you will open your mind to wanting to create wealth.
Taking risks, investing, and dedicating time and energy into your business will become what allows you to do more good in this world.
Do not shame the 'nice things'.
Devote yourself to making them accessible.
The nice things matter.
Joshua
Team Onyx
