The Suffering of Wants

Every once in a while (okay, usually every 28 days or so), I go through a continuous craving and wanting stage that I have to talk myself down from.

I get this bubble of discontent that bursts with a varied list of wants and just recently it went something like this:

I wish we had a bigger house, if we had a bigger house I could get another kitten. I want another kitten. I’m supposed to have nine cats for Cat of Nine Tales, but Snafu couldn’t tolerate another cat unless we had a bigger house. I wish we had a bigger house.

Once I’ve awakened from the suffering of wants, I counter this kind of thinking with this kind of thinking:

You can’t have a bigger house unless you have a lot more money. If you had a bigger house, you’d only need to spend more time cleaning it and you wouldn’t have more time, because you’d be working more hours to earn more money to pay for the bigger house.

AND YOU DON’T WANT TO WORK MORE HOURS.

If you worked more hours, you’d be miserable and you certainly wouldn’t have enough time to spend with a new kitten (never mind writing!).

Be grateful and enjoy the cats you have! Enjoy the small manageable house and work less hours so you can enjoy life and have time to write.

Most of the time I understand this choice, because it was a choice DP and I made to live simpler, smaller lives with no debt and as stress free a work life as we can manage.  But, the suffering of wants can get to me sometimes.