Horse Girl

Wanting vs. getting and where they land on the happiness scale

Sometimes—either late on a sleepless night or when I find myself in a bubble of time that is neither large enough to use productively nor small enough to ignore—I busy myself by adding items to my online carts and watch as the number in the little shopping trolley icon ticks upward. There is a pleasing, even soothing, aspect to this process. For a moment, I have staked ownership in something I want, and for the moment, I can enjoy it. I rarely “like” a product or build a wishlist: That feels like a big nothing to me. But plopping it in my online cart makes me happy. It is the most consequence-free consequential action one can take.

Photo by Volodymyr Kozhevnikov on Unsplash