How Vacations Affect Your Happiness

Do vacations make you happy?

Could there be anything happier than this?

This interesting blog post in the NYTimes argues that although vacations can make you happy, it is actually anticipating a vacation and planning for it that makes people happiest.

Given the results of a study conducted by Dutch researchers, the article suggests that the actual travel itself might be stressful, and that upon returning to work, people find that the large volumes of work they need to catch up on end up canceling out the effects of the vacation! To maximize the boost in happiness that anticipating vacations can bring about, the author suggests breaking up a 2-week vacation into two 1-week trips at different times of the year.

This article baffled me because it flies in the face of a lot of research on happiness that I have read. A lot of research seems to suggest that experiences such as trips can have lasting benefits, far beyond the short-term happiness boost of buying a new consumer good. Also, trips with significant others and family seemed to bring people together and strengthen relationships.

A lot of research I read previously also suggests that, unlike the purchase of consumer goods, the memories of a trip will seem happier and happier with the passing of time. We tend to forget the stressful occurrences and fights and see everything through rose-tinted glasses that make us look back on the experience even more favorably than we originally saw it.

Perhaps this was the problem with the research study they report on here: The researchers asked about the trip immediately after the subjects of the study came back. Their memories of the stresses of the trip, airports, etc. were all very fresh on their minds and they were just getting back to a big pile of accumulated work... the results might have been very different if the questions were asked under different circumstances, or a while after the people returned from their trip!

Personally, I have found that the memories of trips I have taken, whether alone or with friends and loved ones, remain some of my happiest memories. Perhaps it varies from person to person? I definitely have a a bit of a travel bug, being a Sagittarius and all... what do you guys think?

Rainy-Day Letter Writing

It's been a very morose few days in Shanghai, the endless fine drizzle just doesn't let up! These might be days when I would usually get bored out of my mind and go spend a day at the mall buying useless things at cheap stores, window-shopping and gorging on fast-food.

Cute paper, a purple pen and pink envelopes!

Instead, I have decided to catch up with some friends in a more old-fashioned way, and compose a letter on fancy paper to a dear friend who is leaving China for graduate school in the US in just a few days.

Do you remember the feel of pen on paper? The fun of picking out nice paper to write on? Stuffing colorful envelopes with well thought-out words and nice wishes? It was fun and therapeutic, and I hope my friends enjoy it as a heartfelt little gift that will remind them of the good times we have spent together.

One of the best things about buying this kind of letter paper in China is the cute Chinglish on it. This one says:

"Think about you when you're speaking about love, there's never too late."

How Materialism Affects our Children

A really interesting study conducted by UNICEF looked at how materialism and inequality affected children's well being in the UK, Spain and Sweden.

These countries were chosen because children's well being was found to be lower in the UK than in the two other countries, and the researchers wanted to understand why. The results of the study revealed that UK parents spent a lot more on toys and consumer goods for their children, but less time with the family and doing outdoor activities, which the kids really reported enjoying and desiring to do more often.

The piles of toys did little to make the children in the UK truly happy.

I focused on the part of the report that talked about materialism, and was really interested in the researcher's conclusions that:

"Behind the statistics we find many UK children do not refer to material goods when talking about what makes them happy, and also understand the principles of moderation in consumption, but may have parents who feel compelled to purchase, often against their better judgement."

As we might expect, the children really showed that time with friends and family, time spent outdoors and in creative play were far more important to their happiness and well being than the excess of products and toys that parents in the UK fill their homes with!

Defying Gravity (and my Chinese Horoscope) in the Yanwu Climbing Gym!

In 2013 my Chinese horoscope literally advised me not to take up rock climbing, saying that I should keep my feet on solid ground this year and watch out for objects falling on my head... CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

While I have climbed a few times before, it has been almost 10 years (a decade!!) since I've done anything even remotely serious with it. I decided to go back when I found out a good friend from college, who I climbed with back in the day, is now in Shanghai --  shout out to Charlie Liu!

A great space, with challenging routes even for more experienced climbers!

All of this goes along with my desire to buy less while spending more time gaining new experiences, having fun with friends and enjoying new ways to spend my time, hence the desire to join them on their adventures!

It says a lot about our world of conspicuous consumption that one of my first thoughts upon entering the little climbing world of Yanwu was "Oh crap, I'm going to have to buy climbing shoes..."

As if buying the shoes would make me a better climber, or help me fit in more, or make me somehow more committed to the activity due to the cost incurred -- all the things we think when we decide to take up a new hobby and go out to buy all the "necessary" equipment. Oh well, I have already decided that if I am still climbing a year from now, then I can get the damn shoes!

The place was fun, the routes were great and the staff was super attentive and helpful to a beginner. At just 55 RMB for the entrance fee and rental shoes, along with one-on-one instruction from a dude called "Gecko," I really hope to make it back for more fun!

Buff bodies at Yanwu!

Gender Roles in Advertising

This blog is mostly about recognizing that corporations and the media have a vested interest in making me want things I don't need so that they can keep generating profits.

This involves them convincing me that I need to buy, wear, own and show off certain things and look a certain way in order to be happy, accepted, sexy, desirable, popular, etc.

On a slightly related note, this interesting video looks at how media and advertising don't really stop there -- they skew our perceptions of reality so that we change our behavior to fit the mold they've created. In this case, the video examines gender roles in advertising and how they manipulate our ideas of masculinity, femininity and sexuality. Enjoy!

Swedish Wisdom

Love this Swedish proverb I saw on a friend's Facebook page today! Rings so true. When you buy things you do not really need or want, you are stealing from yourself time spent with your family and loved ones, quality of life and overall happiness. You are also lying to yourself about what it is that you need in order to be happy.

Wishing you ALL much happiness and love! Buy less, live more!

"What You Don't Have, You Don't Need it Now"

This is such a great song: U2's "Beautiful Day." But have you ever paid attention to the last verse?

The words that stand out to me are: "What you don't have, you don't need it now..."

I remember listening to this song as a teenager and being struck by the truth in that statement.

It's so easy to think of lots of things I "need," like beige pumps that go with everything, or a clutch that transitions seamlessly from daytime to night, color pencils and some eye cream. But the lyrics remind us that there is a difference between "need" and "want."

How can I step back and reconsider my needs? The truth is that I am healthy, happy and well-fed; I have clothes on my back, a roof over my head and a steady job. I have friends and people I love who love me back.

What I don't have, I don't need it now. Really.

A Final Embrace

This haunting image from the factory collapse in Bangladesh is at once "disturbing and hauntingly beautiful."

It’s as if they are saying to me, we are not a number — not only cheap labor and cheap lives. We are human beings like you. Our life is precious like yours, and our dreams are precious too.

Read more: http://lightbox.time.com/2013/05/08/a-final-embrace-the-most-haunting-photograph-from-bangladesh/#ixzz2Sl9M3S76

Can Rana Plaza Lead to Change?

This great article in The Observer challenges consumers to demand change in the garment industry now, while the tragedy of Rana Plaza in Bangladesh is still fresh on everyone's minds. But the question remains as to how to go about accomplishing this.

The fashion industry is not really ready to change unless we make it. As a consumer, what are you doing to demand change?

The Bangladesh Conundrum

A lot has come out in recent years about the conditions of factory workers in developing countries who make the cheap stuff we buy. It should really make us think of the true cost of our cheap consumer products -- the human and environmental costs that we do not often see.

The problem is that our demand for cheap stuff has made it impossible for factory workers to be paid livable wages, or for factory owners to afford improving conditions for their workers. And then there is corporate greed.

Even though many consumer products are sold for many times what it costs to produce them, the extra money is never spent on improving wages and conditions -- the bottom line is always the shareholders and the profits the company can report. Thriving companies like Apple, Disney and Walmart are reporting billions in profits every year and working conditions in the factories that make their merchandise are still not good enough. It costs just $0.22 to make a t-shirt in Bangladesh, versus $7.00 for the same t-shirt made in the US -- where do you think corporations choose to go?

It's a conundrum. Disney's announcement that it would no longer produce it's merchandise in Bangladesh could lead to a loss of jobs and income for the overwhelmingly poor, female workers who work in garment factories. Their work in factories has led to improved social status, increased educational opportunities and delayed marriages for women and girls.

Where do we fit in as consumers? Demanding change and refusing to buy from brands that source from factories with poor working conditions is difficult when we have incomplete information. It is only when such tragedies occur that we even stop to consider where the stuff we buy comes from.

This NYTimes article offers some food for thought on the issue, but I am not sure I agree that regulation is the solution. Just as improved safety standards in countries like the US have led to higher prices and the outsourcing of dangerous work to the poor and desperate in places like Bangladesh, increased regulation in Bangladesh will just lead to the dangerous work moving elsewhere once again.

Our insatiable thirst for cheap products, corporate greed and the endless race to the bottom, through which opportunities are handed to whoever will get the job done for less, ultimately means that worker safety will always suffer. As consumers we have to realize that it is our responsibility to pay for worker safety, or just not consume at all.

Thoughts on this, anyone?

The Story of Stuff

Though this is an old video I wanted to share it because having watched it all those years ago was really so instrumental in shaping my understanding of our consumer culture and why it works the way it does.

Watching the video now, it seems more radically left-wing and political than I remembered it, but I think the message is still valid. It makes me think about how my story doesn't have to be about stuff: stuff I own, stuff I want, stuff I just bought, stuff I throw away. What do you guys think?

Live More, Buy Less -- My resolution to buy NOTHING for the next 365 days

I am starting this blog as a place to document my adventure: my decision to step off the endless cycle of work --> money --> stuff --> no money --> work that has come to define our existence in modern society.

I want to clarify that I am not an anarchist, a communist, or any other "-ist" out there. I am simply looking to try out a different approach to life, one in which I am not defined by what I own, and in which I feel empowered to define for myself what it is that I truly "need" and what it is that makes me happy.

I worry about the world we live in, about the values that we are passing onto the next generation of young people and about the environmental damage we are doing to our planet with our endless thirst for cheap stuff. I've decided that buying nothing for a year will:

1. Help me reconsider my needs and wants and learn about what really matters to me.
2. Reduce my ecological footprint.
3. Lead me to change my spending patterns so that I can focus more on having memorable experiences with the people I love rather than on collecting STUFF. This should ultimately help me to...
4. Live more and buy less!

The Rules:

1. Consumables, things like food, etc. are ok -- I am not turning into a dumpster-diver or subsistence farmer.
2. I will monitor my use of necessary consumer products (everyday things like toothpaste or toilet paper) and try to reduce and replace with less costly and environmentally friendly options whenever possible.
3. My one loophole will be eBooks, subscriptions to publications, etc. To me, these consist of experiences and education, and are not consumer products per say. I will try my best to buy only electronic versions to reduce my environmental impact, and the clutter in my life.
4. Streaming services like Netflix are ok, buying actual DVDs or CDs is not.
5. I will not accept gifts either, unless they are consumable (e.g. a bottle of wine, homemade cookies), consist of experiences (a meal out, a weekend away, a massage, an eBook) or are second-hand hand-me-downs.
6. Bartering for stuff in exchange for things I already own is ok, e.g. clothing swaps.

What do you think of my rules? Is there anything I should change or add? Let me know what you think in the comments section -- I'll be sure to think it over and respond.