So, why is it that humans constantly feel the need to buy, buy, buy? It's a strange phenomenon, but I find that humans sometimes heavily rely on being accepted by a specific type of group, or a community if you will. We live and thrive in a culture that is infatuated with celebrities and what they buy. We use knowledge of what they buy in order to determine how much money that have, as well as how happy they are.

We would all like to think that celebrities are highly well-liked people, (unless of course they are infamous), but celebrities are relatively well known and praised. Long story short, celebrities are people who have emotions, but they choose to show us their happy face. They CHOOSE to make it look like their happy, but as a collective, we'll never know. So, as just regular everyday humans we constantly compare our lives with celebrities and their lifestyle.

This could also be blamed on social media - the constant sharing of one's life. Our society is so deeply immersed in what famous people do, buy, say that we flock to them as if we are sheep, wishing to be an exact replica of them. Already you can tell how overly toxic this mindset is.

"Kim K has this nude, ruched dress, so I bought a nude ruched dress!"

(10 points if you know where I spoofed that quote from.)

Anyways, I'm not saying that my shopping addiction spans from the infatuation with the rich and the famous, but I'm onto something...I promise. People see celebrities happy and they see all the things they can afford, so in return, they try to be like them. People buy things for happiness and honestly, so do I. Unfortunately, half of the things I buy are things I will never need. And I mean, people should be able to buy whatever they want with their own money, hell I spent the majority of my paycheck today on stuff for college, (I didn't need most of it - just wanted it.)

While there is nothing wrong with that, we must realize that material items can make you happy, but it will never keep you happy. That fifty dollar shirt? Yeah, you won't be wearing it in two years. Our society focuses so much on trends and how spending makes you smile. but it never touches on how to actually be happy. We see celebrities smiling, but we don't know their mental state. We see their Gucci bag and rack up that they have a perfect life, but we couldn't be more wrong. Truth is, material items could be considered "buying happiness", but it will never be considered "eternal happiness."

So how does one remain fully and joyfully happy? Well, I look at happiness from a mental perspective. Happiness is a state of mind. Society needs to focus on loving thy self, not only loving materialistic objects. Our society is obsessed with thinking that rich people are always happy because of their money. In return, we use material items as a way to suspect someone's income and measure money towards happiness. We use the buying of material items, to sum up, our own self-worth. In reality what we own is not who we are; what we lack is also not who we are.

We should just be who we want to be, easier said than done - I know. However, progress is progress. We feel good when we buy. Some people could see buying items as a form of an accomplishment, which may not always be a bad thing, but it could become toxic. Now, I do not have a direct answer as to why we do this in our society, but I could tell you that this needs to end. There's nothing wrong with wanting a comfy income, there's also nothing wrong with wanting to be filthy rich. I mean, work for what you want. However, we cannot base our self-worth on our income and what we own.

What we must do is look into our own minds, chaotic, or not and find some sort of peace with ourselves. We have to look around and see that true wealth is being at peace with who we are. It's beautiful to be able to fully love yourself, as well as work on self-love. We must cancel out negative energy and please can we stop comparing ourselves to other people. We're all people, each with a unique mind that we should be exploring / sharing. We're each worth so much more than what we see, so much more than what we buy.

When I was younger I had this absurd obsession with looking at what everyone else was wearing. I was just a little under a preteen. I couldn't help but feel like I wasn't good enough because I didn't have the latest jacket from the Limited Two, or Aeropostale. I can look back now and realize how absolutely ridiculous and ugly that thought process was. I was fine without the expensive clothing. I now realize that this type of mindset is horrible. Unfortunately, people still have that exact mindset I just want to say, no I want to scream that you are worth more than what's in your bank account. You're worth more than a name brand.

You are a person. You have a mind. Explore your mind. Find what really makes you feel alive. Society teaches us to compare ourselves to others, teaches us that we need to have certain items to fit in, or look a certain way, whether that be dressing in certain trends, or even something as extreme as plastic surgery. "Bullshit," is what I call it. Live for no one but yourself. Show others your beautiful, extraordinary mind and acceptance will follow. Stop putting yourself down for what you don't have and look around you. Recognize what you do have in materials and in the energy you release. Look in the mirror, extremely close. See all that you are and everything you hope to be.

Staying positive isn't always easy. There are days when I'm stuck in this sudden out of annoyance and negative energy. On days like these, I have to keep moving forward by sucking the negativity out, focusing on what I can do to help myself, realizing that I deserve more. I deserve positivity and happiness; so do you. I encourage you to understand that you are more than what you spend your money on. You are more than your Instagram likes and followers. You are you. That is more than enough.

So, when you think about, think about it deeply, you don't know how celebrities actually feel. You don't know how they feel months after they bought Rolls Royce after they bought the million dollar house. You have no idea how any rich person feels at 2 a.m. when everyone is sleeping, when they are the only one awake in a dark room, Don't compare yourself to others at all, especially in the sense that just because they could spend, spend spend. We are all people trying to just be simply and wildly happy

Happiness in material objects is only a figment of the imagination. They're nice to have. What you should want though. That's different. You should want to surround yourself with positivity and those who bring you it to you. Fill your surroundings with others who are able to show you an actual, meaningful conversation. Surround yourself with those who are able to show you a freeing adventure.