Ulysses writes:
How much you desire or love something (a watch, a woman, a car) seems to be proportional to the effort required and the sacrifices made to get it. Desire for something when you think you might not be able to justify it tests the mettle of the individual almost to breaking point. If you deny yourself, you feel like a stronger person. If you give in, you get that which you desire but you might also feel guilty at having been so weak in succumbing. So, unless you're filthy-rich and can spend money with gay abandon, you can't win.
My approach to this problem is to try a different perspective. As people, we don't think we are inferior to others just because they are richer than us and wear expensive clothes. We have our own good qualities that we can be proud of despite our apparent lack of glamour, glitter and bling. A watch is similar in the sense that even if it isn't made of platinum and polished to an atomic level of smoothness, it can still be tough, reliable and trustworthy when you really need it. If it serves you properly and does its job well, then it's every bit the equal of a prettier, more expensive watch. While more money may well get you more style, i'm not at all ashamed of the quartz chrono Seiko i've been wearing on and off for fifteen years. It has serves me well despite some major knocks and has survived. It's a lot like me in that sense, and I respect it for that more than a $10,000 Swiss timepiece that needs regular maintenance and molly-coddling to keep it going.
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