Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff

Stuff, Stuff and More Stuff

 By

Aya Fubara Eneli, M.A., J.D.

Aya Eneli International

I live in the United States of America which can also be accurately referred to as the United States of Accumulation. Yes, I love my country and am grateful for the many virtuous ideals we embody and inspire, but we do have a growing love affair with “stuff” that bears caution.

There’s a popular show on TV called Hoarders. This program depicts real-life situations of people who can’t stop accumulating things to the point where it takes over and even threatens their lives. Many have chosen their stuff over marriages, relationships with their children and even their own health. While there may be a psychological component to their behavior, what’s the excuse for the rest of us who apparently share some of these tendencies?

It is all too common to see a home with a garage in which no cars can be parked because the garages are filled with stuff. Those who can afford it (and many who can’t) go on to build sheds and other units on their properties just to store more stuff. One of the largest growing businesses in America is the storage business. When we have filled our homes, our garages and our sheds, we go on to pay for storage units elsewhere to house those precious trinkets without which I suppose we think we will die. We have walk-in closets, attics, basements, and all manner of means to store more and more stuff. Women boast of shoe and purse obsessions. Men want more and more gadgets.

The Holiday Season really illuminates our love affair with stuff. In an attempt to create good cheer, many of us have bought into the notion of decorating every nook and cranny or our homes and yards. While I certainly can appreciate the beauty of such displays, I cringe every time I think about how much storage one has to have for all those things.

The tragedy in all of this is that our appetite for stuff is insatiable. So many of us purchase things not for need or function, but just because; and all this, while so many in the world are going without. All this, while some of us are drowning in debt just so we can have stuff.

Well, it is a free world and that means we can all make our choices as it pertains to acquiring and accumulating stuff. I am working very diligently on ensuring that as much as comes into my home, the same or more is making its way out to help someone else. I’m also re-training myself and my household to question our purchases however good a deal it may appear.

I am of the opinion that constipation (that state in which things go in, but never leave) in any area of my life isn’t healthy. How about you? What’s the status of your stuff?

Aya Fubara Eneli is a best-selling author, Christian Life Coach, Motivational Speaker and Attorney. Her life’s purpose is to empower and equip people to live up to their highest potential. She and her husband live in Central Texas with their five miraculous children. For more information, visit www.ayaeneli.com, follow her on twitter @ayaeneli or e-mail her at info@ayaeneli.com.