I loved economics in secondary school, although by my final year, my interest in it began to wane, replaced instead by my greater love for the arts. I find it fascinating, then, that after all these years, I seem to have found my way back to the ‘dismal’ science, and I remember why I had loved it in the first place. It’s science, but it is also real life; it manages to make sense of the world without the many contemplations that boggle a course like philosophy.
So, here I am, drawing on its lessons again. One of the first things I was taught as a teenager discovering the intricacies of economics was that human wants are unlimited. Maybe I understood it then, but I definitely understand it now. You picture the life you want, and you swear that when you have all your heart’s desires, you will finally be happy. But even when you get everything you want, what you realise to your chagrin is that there’s plenty more where that came from – instead of satisfaction, you find more desire. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. As a society, our insatiable desires have led to many great innovations.
There was a time all I wanted was an iPhone. I know it may sound silly, but that’s the whole point of today’s blog post. I was happy with my Samsung, but I absolutely felt like there was more I could do if I had an iPhone. I wanted the freedom that the Apple product would give, the ability to whip out my camera anytime and know my photo would turn out well.
Then one day, I got an iPhone, and the next thing I knew, I was struck with another dream, this time a strong case of wanderlust, and suddenly I felt absolutely tired of being in Abuja for the last two years. It’s when I began to notice a pattern; there’s a freedom to dream that you attain when you no longer live in survivor mode.
When you are hungry, all your thoughts hone in on that hunger, and no matter how much you try to distract yourself, your greatest desire is to satisfy your hunger. Many of us do not realise this, but we are more privileged than we think. The desire to want more from life is a sign that you have already attained something tangible to the extent that your heart now wants more.
Think about it. There’s a stifling that comes in survivor mode, and it’s only when you are out of it that you realise this. Suddenly, you are thinking thoughts you never knew you could have, and you want things your mind could never imagine before. You are more creative, you begin to see possibilities, and the world feels like your oyster. There are dreams you only get to dream when your basic needs are met, or when you have a well-paying job, or when you don’t have a sick family member.
Today, I’m thankful to God for the privilege to dream because it signifies to me that I’m no longer where I used to be. So many of my needs have been satisfied that I can now look into my wants. I can and do desire more from my life. When I look at my dreams now, and my dreams then, I know for a fact that I have every reason to be thankful, and I am.
So what’s the connection between our insatiable wants and our dreams? I think dreaming is essential for life, but it would never be enough to just dream. Even if we got everything we wanted, we would only want more. That’s why you can’t spend your life stuck in a cloud of dreams. It’s okay to want more, but realise that you probably will always want more, so you have to choose to be satisfied with your life. I think that’s one of the greatest keys to happiness.
Photo credit: Radomir Moysia on Unsplash