WHAT DO YOU NEED?

KALYANI ADUSUMILLI compares wants and needs, and explores how the simple life helps us keep a check on needs and wants, leading to contentment and happiness.

- KALYANI ADUSUMILLI

To truly find contentment, it is commonly thought that we must distinguish between our needs and wants. Needs imply basic requirements to survive, such as water, air, and food; in other words, that which we cannot live without. But typically, we also include the intangible, like friendship, love, and security, among our needs.

Needs are supposed to be less than our wants, so we approach life practically. After all, we can want anything, including flying to the moon! Generally speaking, our wants are things we assume will improve our life somehow. But as our society grows more materialistic, our wants are often frivolous, not to mention numerous.