Wardrobe Diaries

Want vs. Need

Making an important distinction and realization that will hopefully help me prioritize.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about wanting versus needing lately. I think it probably has to do with the fact that I’ve been so busy I’m having a hard time prioritizing, i.e., distinguishing what I want vs what I need. After some thought, this is what I determined…

While wanting tends to be a duty, needing, on the other-hand, is more of a fixation or an obsession of sorts.

As I sat down and thought about what I wanted to complete this week, I struggled categorizing my wants and my needs. Do I want to clean my room, no. Do I need to clean my room, yes. Do I want that dress, yes. Do I need that dress, no. See where I’m going with this? Truly thinking about it, needs are never really satisfied unless they are replaced with a different need. Now what does that mean?

To determine whether what you crave or desire is a want or a need, you should think about it this way, “can you survive without it?” If yes, then it’s a want. If you can’t survive without it, it’s a need. Wants are optional, needs are necessities. But that more or so applies to life or death situations, in most cases. So I ask myself this again, “Do I want to clean my room? No. HOWEVER, I mentally cannot function when my space is unlivable and a wreck. So cleaning my room becomes a necessity.

So what does that mean for Friday’s to-do list? Do I need to clean my room? Yes. Do I need to fold my laundry? Yes. Do I need to go shopping? No, but I really want to;)