30/09/2023
It's so disheartening seeing Nigerian youths losing their lives day in day out.
What went wrong? For a moment, let's not look at the surface or external force. Let's take a look at the root.
Nigeria is trapped in materialism both the poor and the rich, the followers and the leaders. Materialism is a flawed value system that rewards a perception of wealth and possessions as increasing social standing. It is a plague that’s self-detrimental to the poor and the rich and socially destructive.
Materialism is a slippery and desperate path that leads to apathy, hopelessness, anxiety, and depression, ushering in negative impacts on well-being, relationships, and overall quality of life.
It is the sport that consumes the majority of people in and from Africa. It is an illusion that is destroying lives. When we align our lives around materialism, we place wealth over substance, earnings over relationships, popularity over virtue, hustle culture over family, and ego over serving others. I'm not saying a few aren't caught up in the same web within the western world but they're few and materialism is not the base of their value system.
There is nothing wrong with wanting the best luxuries in life. To some degree, a lot of us partake in consumer culture and value tangible possessions, and that’s perfectly fine. But, they should NEVER be what you orient your life’s goals around and be your driving force.
Materialism makes those who succumb to it play small. It makes a nation suffers as they have a value system that is preoccupied with possessions. Yet they possessed nothing.
Endowment effect is when you start thinking about materialistic objects as an extension of your identity and create an expectation that you’ll achieve some level of satisfaction possessing them. It is an illusion that makes many people in a materialistic value system become heart hardened and lose access to who they truly are.
Materialism makes nations suffer hardship in the midst of plenty resources. It makes the religious suffer spiritual hunger in an age of freedom and liberty. In replacement of spiritual liberty they have soul selling religion which is a surefire path to misery and mediocrity.
The people's desire for a better life isn’t driven by adversity but by their own inner discontentment that has been from one generation to another.
Africans, at some point in history, become obsessed with comparing, accumulating, and acquiring instead of creating, helping, and adventuring. When you have more, you spend more, and between all that, you forget the difference between want and need.
The High Cost of Materialism is essentially devoting your soul, mind, passion, and heart to gaining tangible items versus achieving self-mastery and positively impacting the world.
The chase after the tangible caused majority to lose their identity, morals, and perspective. These negative aspects keep stacking until most people completely lost and feel the numbness, depression, helplessness, and now EGO plaguing sooo many in the society.
When you always want to have better than you own, you are left with dissatisfaction and get robbed of your inner peace. The desire to conform to the society's demand is like climbing an endless ladder. Endless ladder will not fall you, it simply waiting for you to lose your balance and fall. Since materialism alone is not enough to find fulfilment in life, and you've compromised your relationships, friendships, morals, values, and true identity, you lose your balance in life and eventually failed to find fulfillment.
I urge us to stop looking outwardly for fulfillment and start looking inwardly. Be grateful for what you have and the incredible superpowers you possess. See the smiles on the faces of those who have solid self-identities and ask yourself why they are happier? The answer is straightforward, they are more focused on intangible aspects of life and are satisfied with what they are and what they have. They are not obsessed to acquire.
Will Nigeria or Africa as a whole change for better? Only God knows. However, the emergency of social media has made it worst and it will continue to be so. Social media has a lot to do with the growing belief of materialism. Significant parts of the population are convinced that wealth leads to happiness. Nigerians have a relentless pursuit of materialism, which obviously makes their hardship and struggles of tomorrow stronger than those they experienced yesterday.
Let's just assume thats Africa's fate. It doesn't have to be same as yours. What changes will you make today to own or take back your life? You came to this world empty-handed, and you are to leave empty-handed. Your belongings and your body will be recycled and returned to nature. The question should not be, what do you want to be remembered for? That question sometimes misguided the mind causing it to start wondering on people's opinions. Ask yourself, What does God had planned for your life? We can never miss it beyond repatriation when we live with that understanding.
©BiolaSiyan
ACCORD CONSULT
