More

Have you ever been surrounded by stuff? Not just any old stuff, but your stuff? Your stuff is everywhere. Take a moment and look to your right, now to your left, do you see stuff? Do you see stuff that you don’t use? Do you see stuff that is honestly just there to sit there? Like you bought it to sit on top of something else, so that it can collect more stuff that you won’t use? This was me a few years ago – in my very first home as a newlywed, sitting in an outdated, hand me down chair, eating a bowl of cereal and looking into my kitchen completely overwhelmed with the mass of stuff that piled onto one counter.

Recently, the ULEAD team has been discussing this toxic mindset of get more, be more, do more, have more. And for so long I have been stuck in this disease that if I could just get the next best thing, I would be happy. I would be content. I would be proud. I would have “it all”. A few years ago, I realized that obtaining “it all” is not possible. There is always something “more” to get, to have, to chase, to yearn, to long for, to discover, to invent, to be, to become. There is always more—especially when we’re talking about stuff.

In my 27 years on this earth, I’ve discovered that more is a rule in this life. It encompasses our lives and we are infatuated with the idea of it. If we could just get that higher paying job so that we could have more—so that we could have bigger and better houses, that can hold more of bigger and better stuff, with bigger and better vehicles, which all require more to maintain, THEN we could be happy. It’s a never-ending cycle that most of us are caught in. Like hamsters on a wheel we run, and run, and run after more, tasting the joy of purchasing our happiness for a fleeting second before setting our sights on the next best thing.

However, as I sat in that old, 70’s flower power, wing back chair, an idea surfaced above the sound of my crunching lucky charms.

“I. Want. More.”

No, I didn’t want more stuff—but more out of my life. I wanted more time spent not worrying. I wanted more moments that cannot be captured on Instagram or Facebook, but in my home and with the people I love. I wanted more inside jokes, better relationships, better health, more adventure, and less stuff. I guess what I’m trying to say here is: I wanted contentment. I want a bigger and better life.

And our discussions as a team, has made me realize that I have strayed from this mindset in the hustle and bustle of life. With a baby on the way, by golly my child will have it all. Everything. The best of the best!

Yikes. I am grateful for the team I am on, the truths they speak in grace, and the depth of discussion I can experience at “work”. I do not wish to model or teach my child to taste and see the disease of more. To dream is to be bold, to have passion is inspiring, to be entrepreneurial is not wrong. I think it all boils down to your heart’s position. Are you fiercely chasing after your dream because it burns within you, or are you doing it for the benefits of what it gets you in the material world?

Whatever your answer, I hope this causes some reflection in your life as it has mine. I know that for me, I do want more. Just more of what matters.

Aubrey Eastway, Brand Ambassador at ULEAD