#126: Because I Want It.

We have all been there ourselves. Or we have seen it with our own eyes. A child screaming at her mum, crying, sobbing and all you can hear is this one sentence: «But I want it!»

I remember it very well. Right next to the cashier’s desk, at eye level, they had those small toy cars. It’s not that I didn’t already call some of those on the rack my own. That wasn’t the reason why I made such a spectacle out of myself. It was much simpler than that.

I did what I did because I wanted that toy. I just wanted it.

How irrational and childish to just want something without a proven need. Is it really?

We have been told all of our life that we can’t possibly get everything we want. Absolutely That might be what history has taught us. Numbers don’t lie. Statistics delivers the proof. It’s just impossible to get everything.

And yet, does that mean that we shouldn’t express our wants? As it turns out, knowing what we want is already the first obstacle to overcome. It was probably easier when we were 5 years old. The world pretty much consisted of toy cars and toy soldiers, which meant that you could easily ask for everything.

What do you really want?

Once you know or think you know, you are likely to ask yourself why you want what you want. Now that is the much more interesting question as far as I can tell.

Why do you want what you want?

And here comes the big difference between needs and wants. While there is often a good justification for a need, there is no such thing for wants. Hence, you can want something for the sole reason of wanting it. No need to justify yourself. No justification board to answer to.

It can be liberating to say «I want it because I want it ».

And here comes the point. Remember the toy car? No different from when you were a child, just because you want it doesn’t mean you will also get it. However, that doesn’t make it wrong either.

Keep wanting. It improves the odds of getting anything significantly.