Whatever You Make Your Master, You Will Serve!

People all around us are serving different materialistic masters. I have guilt associated with not having my priorities in the right place in the past. In this episode, I will share some thoughts about masters some people serve. Please visit Amazon.com and check out Boss Flow to purchase incredible PMS gummies. Enter B-O-S-S-F-L-O-W as your discount code to receive 10% off your order. Priorities in Life Quiz- Click on the link if you want to analyze your priorities in life.

0:07

Good evening and welcome to my humble podcast abode. I am Cocoa Griot, you know, the fifty-something who gets out glowy inside when she gets to talk to you guys about life, love, and a plethora of other topics. Well, I had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago with a gentleman that sparked me to thinking about people and things. He said, "I know he drove a Subaru Forester, but what car do you really want?" Excuse me?" I was totally taken aback. I said, "I drive a Subaru Forester because I want to drive a Subaru Forester." And he said," Well, you probably really want a Mercedes or BMW or something like that." I said, "No, I'm driving what I want to drive." Then I started thinking about how people are so fascinated with materialism and in society. It seems to be very difficult to be yourself, and people are constantly trying to put you into this materialistic mode. Well, I work very hard to live a minimalist lifestyle. I truly believe that when you make things your Master, you're going to be miserable in life, and whatever you make your master, you will serve. How did we get to this place where we assign people value based on the things they own? We will praise morally bankrupt celebrities, just because they are rich and famous. We will downplay people who can have hearts of gold, but they are not wealthy. For fun, I placed a life priorities quiz in my show notes. I was not surprised by my results. Family is now my number one priority. Give it a try and see where you land.

1:54

I remember one time a friend gave me a $900 purse. That's right. Not $9, not 90, $900! I was horrified. I thanked her and then I told her that was not my cup of tea. I usually buy my purses at Ross, and I don't spend more than about $30 for a purse. She would not take it back. So, I sold the purse on eBay and paid some bills. Now I know people with several, clothes, shoes and handbag habits. A colleague I worked with always had matching shoes and bags. She was diva down every day. I mean this woman looked like she stepped out of a magazine, every day. Then one day at work, she looked incredibly sad. When I asked her what was wrong. She said her water had been turned off at home. There are no words to describe my level of dismay. Her master was dressing a certain way every day, even if it meant not having utilities paid.

3:03

People pick your poison for different reasons. I know for years, I struggled with having to have the latest version of a vehicle. I will be in the middle of paying off a vehicle, and another car would come out that I just had to have. Foolishly I would finance the negative equity of one car into the amount of the next vehicle. You can imagine that after doing this four or five times, I found myself in a never-ending cycle of automobile debt. My last car purchase was difficult. I purchased a vehicle without financing any negative equity. With the current car-buying crisis my car with 20,000 miles on it is now valued at about $4,000 more than I paid for it brand new. For years I made having the latest and greatest automobile, my master. It pains me to see cars that I bought years ago that are still on the road. I could have been driving the same car, and I would have been better off financially if I just stayed satisfied with the vehicle I had. But no, I was caught up in having the latest and greatest. I think this is the reason, the guy's comment bugged me so bad. It took me years to get to this place where I am, where I'm okay and I'm satisfied with what I drive.

4:23

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5:40

So cars and clothes are not the only candidates for being the Masters in someone's life. One of the scariest masters is caring about what other people think of you. To some degree, it matters to most of us, but there are people who take this to the extreme. Social media has some very positive uses like nonprofits are able to share the work of their organizations to attract donors. I believe that is a beautiful thing. The influencer movement is one that deserves some scrutiny though. Some people are judging their worth based on comparing their life to influencers. Why is that a problem? Well, a focus group study by the Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pennsylvania, revealed some disturbing results. 67% of participants reported feeling worse about their own lives, because of social media. Further, 73% felt pressured to post content that boosted their appearance to others. 60% felt pressure to tailor content for popularity and likes and 80% reported being affected by social media drama. It seems that social media can become a master in people's life. I remember this being the case for me. About a year ago, I was consumed with the number of likes and comments, I would get on Twitter. It all came to a head for me in August of 2020. I wished my uncle Happy Birthday by text because I didn't want to tie my phone up by talking. I was in the middle of a huge Twitter discussion. I'm so ashamed to admit this. He died of Covid two weeks later. I walked away from Twitter the day he died and I have not been back.

7:28

I am glad that today my value of Family is where it needs to be. I smiled when I received my quiz results. I hope you will take a moment to think about what you value in life, and what you make your master. Thanks for listening this evening. And as always, I wish you good health, good fortune and a good night., Cocoa Griot out!