Ep.16 N.E.E.D

Chicken Mind Nuggets.

Hosted by Wifey

Chickenmindnuggets.com

[email protected]

@mindchicken

References for this episode

http://www.theminimalists.com

Introduction music graciously provided by

Music from https://filmmusic.io
"Thinking Music" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Show script: (may differ slightly from spoken word)

N.E.E.D – never experiencing enough dealings. This is what need stands for...at least what I think it stands for. I have a friend at work who told me about his big house. He has a blank wall and said, “I need to put something there.” He has an empty room and said, “I need to rent it out.” He has a backyard set up and said, “I need to do something different with it.” I listened, and nodded, and told him I understood, but I didn’t understand anything he was saying. I don’t think you need to cover a large blank wall, or rent an empty room, or do something different with your back yard because to me need means it’s essential to your life functioning. I need water just like you, but no one, in my opinion, needs to cover a blank wall. I am being particular about this because I have a hard time understanding how loosely the word need is used just like the word, “like,” is over used in common conversation. Need means you are sacrificing your time and money for a thing or things which you deem necessary. This can be a good thing; you can use your time and money on your loved ones and in that case, you are creating memories...not just satisfying a need for yourself or them. Need (in the sense of the acronym) is like throwing things down a bottomless pit and expecting it to fill up so you can feel fulfilled. How many times have you purchased something because you forecasted your potential happiness that you will have once you buy it? Does your forecast match your actual happiness level? Did it fill a spot in the void to where you don’t have to purchase anything else because you are fulfilled? Did the object break and now your forecasted happiness turned into unexpected sadness or anger because your expectations and goal of reaching a level of excitement for the THING is now unachievable? I hope these questions spark some “yea that is silly” thoughts in your mind. We should use the word need to mean things that are essential to our wellbeing for survival and not for something that we want because we believe it will bring us a level of a feeling. The word W.A.N.T (which I acronym Willingly Allowing NOW Theft) should take the place of need when it comes to things that are not necessary. This changes your external as well as your internal dialogue about an object. I need a new carpet brings hassle, a “losing the race,” type of feeling. I want a new carpet brings questions: do I really need it? Can I afford it? Can I still live with the one I have? We should change the way we talk about getting an object because we don’t always look at what is lost in the process and what we are losing is sometimes more valuable that what we are getting, so accumulation can actually equal loss. I am not saying everyone should be a minimalist or stop buying for a month, but just take a look at how you use the two words – need and want; then try to interchange them in your sentences and see how you feel each time you change the word. You may feel that you need to want less, or maybe you want to need more....... see what I did there?

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