My Favorite Things...Not

Books on bookshelves, holiday and birthday cards on tables, avocados in a fruit stand, wireless headphones and my favorite pair of Brooks running shoes - these are a few of my favorite things. Yes, when times are bad, these are the things I turn to for comfort.

Recently, I've noticed there are too many books on the bookshelf, too many cards laying upright on my table, overripe avocados in the fruit stand, multiple pairs of headphones (some wireless, lightning and non-lightning adapted) and four pairs of running shoes.

Basically, Marie Kondo would have a field day with my 900 square foot apartment.

The catalyst of this blog is a work recognition trip from last weekend. Of ~400 people in my organization, I was one of eleven selected as a top achiever. One of the perks of this selection was a weekend away in which the company spoiled me and my lucky guest. A three night stay at an all-inclusive resort, a paid Saturday excursion, well renown entertainment and a near endless supply of gifts that included t-shirts, tote bags, a photo album, towels and electronics.

And it was too much.

I arrived home last Monday weighed down by my work email (looking at you 500 unread messages), bad traffic (even at 10AM!) and two more bags of "stuff." Currently, all my loot sits near my dining room table - in a staging area awaiting a new home while I rummage around trying to make space. Every day that passes, my anxiety rises just a bit.

Why is that?

Maybe blame it on Marie Kondo and her decluttering methodology that is sparking action amongst millions of Americans. If you aren't decluttering, then you should be!

Maybe blame it on the LA market - it was ranked by The USA Today as the 10th most expensive city in the United States in 2018.

Maybe blame it on my generation, Millennials, who seem to prefer experiences over "stuff."

Maybe blame the tech sector who created this "on demand" economy - making everything accessible through a smartphone or a computer. I can shop for groceries online. I can hire a driver to take me from point A to B. I can travel to the next town, next state or internationally and still be accessible through my smartphone.

Whatever the reason, something has changed the way my brain works. Unlike my childhood where I made wish lists for new toys or DVDs or board games, I greedily consumed material goods constantly. In my adulthood, I find myself overwhelmed by the amount of "stuff" I have and I am more eager to get rid of it.

And I no longer assign significant value to material possessions. Perhaps became many have been reduced to bytes in my smartphone. Think of all the devices that were rendered obsolete by the smartphone -

• Alarm clocks

• Every day cameras (excludes expensive cameras)

• Photo Albums

• Coupons

• Physical calendars

• Books!

• Magazines and newspapers

• Some credit cards (I mean, who carries cash any more?)

• Paper maps

• Dictionaries

• Atlas'

• DVDs

• Calculators

• CD or tape players

• Watches (to some degree)

Since these items are no longer physically present, perhaps their value has changed. Think of the value you used to spend on the items above and what you pay now (if you are like me, next to nothing sans the iPhone Storage fee).

Instead, I find myself paying a premium for experiences - visiting historically relevant sites like Manzanar Internment Camp, seeing Mother Nature firsthand in places like Antarctica or traveling far distances to spend time with friends and family.

To hammer this point home, if you were to tell me that I had to choose between a nice purse by Michael Kors or my digitized photo album - I'd pick my digitized photo album every day.

Why? First, it's portable, I can take it and access it anywhere. Second and most importantly, it elicits positive sentiments - and it reminds me who I am, who I was with, where I've been and what I learned from it. As Dr. Thomas Gilovich states in his article "The Science of Happiness,"

"Our experiences are a bigger part of ourselves than our material goods. You can really like your material stuff. You can even think that your identity is connected to those things, but nonetheless, they remain separate from you. In contrast, your experiences really are part of you. We are the sum total of our experiences."

A purse does not define me. Sure, it may help define the outfit that I wear but, at the end of the season, I will most likely discard it for another due to the capricious nature of fashion or simple wear and tear. Photo evidence of where I was and who I was with, on the other hand, do.

I am hardly alone in this sentiment. There have been countless articles published on why Milllennials are so different from previous generations -

"Transitioning Travel to the Millennial Market" - Forbes

"Why Don't Young Americans Buy Cars?" - The Atlantic

"Why Millennials Don't Want to Buy Stuff" - Fast Company

Note - Pew Research has an entire category dedicated just for Millennials

And I know that many of my Millennials friends feel the same way - taking 5.8 trips in 2018, holding off on buying houses, having children or changing jobs more frequently.

The key question is - do future generations feel the same way? And if they do, will we begin to see a decrease in certain industries of manufactured goods? For example, could the future of clothing be simply leggings? (You may laugh but look at what companies like Spanx are doing in terms of wearable, business pants that are multi-purpose). Will post offices go the way of telephone booths? Will we even own cars in the future?

I do not have the answers to those questions…yet. However, I know that technology will continue to play a role in how we as humans catalogue and categorize happiness. What do you think? Is technology the main driver or can we ascribe it to generational differences?

I do know that I still have two bags of "stuff" that need to be KonMari'd and it's time to get to it!