
I was just in the shower and realised my bottle count has gone up somewhat. I now indulge in using up to 6 different products in the shower: shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, exfoliator (i.e. shower gel with sand), face wash and a coconut leave in deep treatment hair conditioner (admittedly I only use this once a week-ish or when I remember). My immediate thought was "you've changed". I used to pride myself on being a 3 bottle maximum type of girl.
I don't know why but this thought process progressed to me thinking about all the material things in life I enjoy - leave-in conditioner, shoes, cinnamon scented candles, snowboarding, over a 100 different shades of nail varnish not to mention my self-indulgent deep and passionate love for collecting vintage clothes, music (350+ CDs and counting - no offence to iTunes) and InStyle magazine (since first UK issue).
Without getting too philosophical this does cause me slight concern as I've always thought of myself as someone who didn't get caught up with material things and that I could find more pleasure in not-having than having. I mean, I know all the words to Luther and Janet's "The best things in life are free"! I'm still not sure really where the line is in terms of when having something becomes materialistic - I guess when you "could do without" it - though this is very much a subjective definition.
For me there is no denying it - I admit that "material" things do make me happy. More than this they have helped me in some tricky parts of my life: If it hadn't been for boxsets of The Wire and Prison Break occupying my spare time and thoughts I would have been much slower getting over a few nasty break ups and my gym membership/treadmill habit near enough saved me from telling my old boss where to shove his offensive and sexist managerial style. Generally speaking, on a "bad day" the sound of one of my favourite songs coming on my iPod is enough to make things seem a little better.
So I suppose there's no denying it. We are living in a material world and I am a material girl. That said, I genuinely think that if I had to get rid of all the material things I apparently do love and I was just left with me, my non exfoliated self and those basic non-material things I love: my friends, my family, my voice for making my own music, talking and laughing and my body for running, dancing and other things (ahem) - I think I would do just fine.... if I had to.