The Marketer Who Went Off Consumption

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Ever since I announced that I’m giving away everything I own to one lucky reader of my blog, both friends and strangers have been asking me questions I have no easy answers for –

Why are you giving away everything you own, when you’ll be back in nine months? Won’t you want it all back when you return?

How will you decide who has the greatest need for your belongings? Why don’t you give it away to an orphanage or an old age home instead?

Would you have given everything away if you were not going away for nine months, or, if you were not writing a book?

So, instead of giving you answers I don’t have, let me share a snapshot of what I was thinking before I made my announcement.

We derive our identity (and our happiness) basically in four ways — from the things we own, from the experiences we have, from the people we relate to, and from the meaning we create. These four elements are arranged in a “hierarchy of identities” that is not only different for each one of us, but also changes for each one of us over time.

Three months into my year-long quest to find the formula to turn consumerism-caused ennui into happiness, it is time for a little tweak.

But, first, here’s the sum total of what I have learned in the last three months –

We derive our sense of identity (and our sense of happiness) basically in four ways — from the things we own, from the experiences we have, from the people we relate to, and from the things we create.

Sometimes, all the four elements of our identity are in sync (and we are happy). Often, the things we own enable us to have meaningful experiences with the people we relate to. Sometimes, the things we own even become the tools with which we create things and discover meaning.

There are times, though, when there are trade-offs, when the things we own stop us from experiencing life, relating to people, or creating meaning (and we are unhappy). Two such related trade-offs are the time/ money trade-off and the experiencing/ owning trade-off.