Imagine Yourself Resisting the Urge for More, More, More!
- Lanee and Sandy
- Jun 10, 2019
- 1 min read
Updated: Jun 21, 2024
We want it! We need it!
We gotta go buy it!
Bigger, better, newer, longer.
Higher, faster, tougher, stronger.
Money, jewelry, clothes, and cars.
Rich, and living like the stars.
Material Girl to the core,
And we still want More, More, More, More!
Excessive living is the “in” thing. We are blasted with messages every day (via ads on television, billboards, social media) that we are not enough on our own and that we NEED MORE stuff, money, beauty products, flashy items in order to pass the test of human acceptance. This is nothing new because we’ve been hit with commercials for decades, but marketing firms and celebrities have definitely upped the game.
Are these the lies that have subconsciously gotten you reeled into the More Zone?
You are what you have.
The more you have, the better you are.
You need more stuff and more fluff.
Let’s face these demands of More and let’s change the game. This is Part 1 of our two-part series on climbing out of that More, More, More Zone.
We selfishly hope that you want MORE uplifting Imagine Yourself Podcast topics to strengthen you from the inside out. We could care less about what fashion designer you’re wearing, but we do care about what emotion you’re wearing! Contact us on Facebook (click below) and let us know.
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Sandy Kovach [00:00:01]:
Life can throw a lot at you, but imagine if your life were different, better, not because of what's coming at you, but because of what's coming from you. Let's get there together. Join us and imagine yourself.
Lanée Blaise [00:00:15]:
Thanks for joining us today. I'm Lanee.
Sandy Kovach [00:00:18]:
And this is Sandy. So what are we imagining today, Lanee?
Lanée Blaise [00:00:21]:
We are imagining ourselves sitting still and quiet, Ready to hear a little familiar story. Are you ready, Sandy?
Sandy Kovach [00:00:31]:
Are you gonna tell me a story?
Lanée Blaise [00:00:32]:
Yes. Because I
Sandy Kovach [00:00:33]:
love Don't you?
Lanée Blaise [00:00:35]:
Storytelling is what humans love. So here we go. Once upon a time, there were 3 bears, the big daddy bear, The mid mama bear and the little baby bear who all had a nice, tidy, orderly home. Until one day, A little Goldilocks girl wandered into their home and learned the hard way by accidentally breaking their stuff and burning her tongue and getting all in their beds and messed up that some things are just too small for you. Some things are way too big for you, but some things are just right.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:14]:
Just Right.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:16]:
Right. I remember that.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:18]:
Their story. Of course.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:20]:
And what I really want you to think about and take from it, Besides the fact that you should not go into people's homes and do things that do not belong to you, is that what we can learn is there is an art To knowing and finding what's just right for you.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:39]:
I have a feeling this It's going to be a very informative little lesson, doctor Lanee.
Lanée Blaise [00:01:43]:
I hope so because today's episode is all about how We humans seem to want more, more, more, more, more, more. It's just swelling just uncontrollably.
Sandy Kovach [00:01:56]:
How do you like it?
Lanée Blaise [00:01:57]:
How do you like it more and more? Do y'all remember? That's from a Target commercial. Right?
Sandy Kovach [00:02:01]:
Yeah. It's from a Target commercial. It was actually a song too back in the disco era.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:05]:
So even in the seventies, they were dealing with this more, more, more thing.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:08]:
Yeah. I think they were talking about something else, though. But Woah. Woah. The song, well, and don't Shazam it off us singing it because nothing will come up. It might. Oh my gosh. That was awful.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:20]:
We're not great singers now. Yeah. But But know what? We'd really just wanna get to what's right. Today's episode is just how we wanna get to that sweet spot of accepting when things are just right And not stepping into the land of greed and mind and wanting and more and desiring to this Unrealistic levels.
Sandy Kovach [00:02:41]:
and it doesn't help the people out there are trying to sell us things all the time, appealing to our emotions saying, Basically, we're not complete if we don't have product x, y, or z.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:53]:
And they're good at it, aren't they?
Sandy Kovach [00:02:54]:
Well, they get paid a lot of money to do that. Yeah. They study it.
Lanée Blaise [00:02:58]:
Yeah. I think that marketing experts have become better at what they do than they were back in the day or whatever because do you think That they're the ones I'm putting it like this whole group people. But do you think that consumerism and marketing and all that is what's driving this force that What we have is not enough.
Sandy Kovach [00:03:17]:
If you wanna sell a product, what else are you gonna do? You have to convince people of the need. Do you really need that new Car? Do you really wanna take a lease out on a 2019 MKX right now? I mean,
Lanée Blaise [00:03:31]:
not When you already have a very wonderful Servicing vehicle. Right. That works.
Sandy Kovach [00:03:36]:
But if I was gonna do 1, I it would be an MKX, by the way. By the way. Thinking about that or anything.
Lanée Blaise [00:03:43]:
a little like Yeah, man. Yeah. It's just a whole lot of it's just we're talking about disco and back in the day songs, Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones with I can't get no satisfaction. and I try and I try and I try.
Sandy Kovach [00:03:55]:
Yeah. That was like, that was an old rock song. I believe that was from the sixties. Now you're really going back
Lanée Blaise [00:04:00]:
I'm really going back, but About that part about not being able to get satisfaction, I just kept thinking about this word insatiable. I looked it up because I actually like the way it's just real insatiable.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:12]:
It's usual though.
Lanée Blaise [00:04:13]:
Yes. Insatiable. It sounds kinda sexy or something too, but the definition of it is an appetite or desire that it's Impossible to satisfy, and they use the example an insatiable hunger for success, and in this case, for things also.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:28]:
Oh, yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:04:29]:
And I just don't like the direction that we're going, and I thought this was worth talking about. You know, I'm not trying to bash us. I'm not trying to bash anybody, But I do think that we need to do that whole step 1, recognize that you have a problem. Do we have a problem?
Sandy Kovach [00:04:45]:
Do we have a problem as a society
Lanée Blaise [00:04:47]:
as what you're asking? Yes. We're always reaching for more and not being satisfied with The beautiful things that we do have.
Sandy Kovach [00:04:56]:
It goes back to the whole gratitude thing where we're satisfied and grateful at first, but then in time, yes. Look at kids. They get a new toy. They cannot wait to open the box, the new LEGO set or New video game or whatever it is that they get 5 not 5 minutes later, but not too much.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:15]:
Less than 5. Yeah. It's They have moved on it or want more, and that seems like Such a slap in the face to the parent. Can you imagine us as individuals? Sometimes we're still like that.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:25]:
I think we're still like that as adults. So I think that's just human nature. We want something so badly, but we get bored with it so quickly. And why is that?
Lanée Blaise [00:05:34]:
Well, we also want what other people have.
Sandy Kovach [00:05:36]:
Oh. Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:05:37]:
What Sandy has. Right. I want Sandy's hair. I want Sandy's money. I want, you know, I want Sandy's look, and I want her voice. I I just want everything she's got over there. How about that, Sandy?
Sandy Kovach [00:05:50]:
Well, I don't know that that's true, but but, I mean, I know you're just using that As an example, you look at somebody else and whether it's something that they have, like you were saying, money wise or a car or a house or whatever. I wanna live in a house In Lanee neighborhood. You know? I wanna
Lanée Blaise [00:06:07]:
I wanna keep up with the Joneses. I wanna keep up with the Kardashians.
Sandy Kovach [00:06:10]:
We'll see. And there you go. And that show. And I have to say, you know, I watched it a couple times. It's a guilty pleasure. My, mother-in-law watches it. Uh-huh. Loves the show, and she is the most wholesome, beautiful woman.
Sandy Kovach [00:06:25]:
and so I don't judge you if you watch
Lanée Blaise [00:06:28]:
That's yeah. Sometimes it is a little guilty pleasure, and I'll give it that. I don't watch the Kardashian book, but I do watch the Real Housewives of Atlanta and Potomac and different yeah. All the different housewives. And, honestly, when I watch it this is just me. I watch it because sometimes I love thinking I'm so grateful that my friends don't act like that and that I don't have to be in that situation that my husband doesn't do that, and I don't act like that. But it does showcase and highlight and pump up, again, consumerism and materialistic Nature's and greed and all that stuff, it's been like that for years. I remember being a little kid and seeing commercials, especially Christmas time.
Lanée Blaise [00:07:05]:
The commercials or just crazy. I have to have this serial. I need more of this. It just went crazy. And social media is another one besides television That we have to keep an eye on.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:18]:
I think social media more so than TV because social media in our pocket with Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, whatever it is,
Lanée Blaise [00:07:27]:
it's just putting it in our faces so hardcore.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:30]:
And it's almost like If you don't take a picture of it, then it didn't happen. You can't even just enjoy what you're seeing. Okay. So I'm driving home the other night, and I see this beautiful sunset. And I have this temptation to, like, pull out my phone, but I'm driving. Now I didn't do it. Good. I wouldn't do it, and we all know how horrible Distracted driving can be, but it's almost like if people don't capture the moment, they feel they didn't live it.
Sandy Kovach [00:07:55]:
They couldn't just experience it. And people have literally died, whether it's taking a selfie. I've read a bunch of stories like a guy falling down the steps with a selfie stick By the Taj Mahal. I don't know if you remember the story of the girl driving. She hears happy from Pharrell come on the radio, gets Excited wants to video it for Facebook while she's driving, and, you know, she has an accident and dies.
Lanée Blaise [00:08:20]:
That's the type of Stuff where we've gone too far because of the more aspect, I think, more attention. But What if we focus more on the things that matter, more on the things that are helpful and healthy, or even just nature things? Because God has been so good to give us sunshine to warm us and light us and flowers to smell and look at the beauty of those, the birds to sing, the wind to Cool us. We have loved ones. We have life. We have minds and free will and thoughts and Poetry and art, what about if we concentrated on some of those things more often? And even like you said with your own Admission that the sunset part, enjoy it for what it is. Some of these when we're at kids at their little ballet recitals or their Gymnastics performances and trying to capture it, like you said, on video or a picture of it to be in the moment with it. In that case, you're not gonna be able to share it with others and do more with it. You're going to accept it for what it is and enjoy being that Parent or that aunt or that grandparent sitting in the audience watching and be grateful for that instead of just having to take everything to the next level.
Sandy Kovach [00:09:38]:
I understand you wanna share things on social media with your friends and relatives, and there's nothing wrong with wanting to take a video at your Child's recital. But if it's only about that if you're only thinking to yourself, wow. This is really cool. I'm gonna get, like, a 150 likes off this, then your priorities or in the wrong place. I'm not saying this to condemn anyone. I mean, I'm on social media a lot as well, and people are driven by likes, whether it's Instagram Mhmm. Or retweets on Twitter or on Facebook, whatever the case may be, your comments, or So seeing that reaction that people get, and there have been studies too that say and I can't remember exactly, so I don't really wanna speak out of school on this. But there is a physical reaction that you get, an adrenaline rush that you do get when you get likes on social media.
Sandy Kovach [00:10:26]:
So it's I mean, it's turned into a literal craving.
Lanée Blaise [00:10:29]:
And that is not necessarily a good thing, I think. The concept of less Is scared to say less is more, but less is better. The concept of less is better. What if we focused a little on that sometimes? Because Have you noticed the size of portions food portions when you go to restaurants? You we expect more now. Okay?
Sandy Kovach [00:10:52]:
We expect more, and we expect it fast.
Lanée Blaise [00:10:54]:
Yes. What if you had smaller portions with less sugar, less salt, less heavy foods? Wouldn't that have Less heart disease and less heart attacks and less diabetes and less strokes and things like that. What if we had less Purchases, less situations where we just have to buy the next thing. Don't you think we'd have less trash heaps all over the world? Gosh. There's all this impulse buying and getting rid of things that were perfectly good. The trash epidemic is just piling up. What if we had Less attachment to status. We could have less credit card debt.
Lanée Blaise [00:11:36]:
Yeah. Less debt, period. Less trying to measure up so much less suicides, less shootings, less fighting, less of the bad stuff because of less of the Ridiculous stuff. So less ridiculous stuff equals less bad stuff.
Sandy Kovach [00:11:51]:
Because of all these desires within us That wants more, whether it's just we crave more because we want it or we crave more because we see somebody else that has it. Yeah. Debt is I mean, you touched on that a bit, but I can't remember the statistics, so I won't quote them. But The average debt in this country is huge. And, yeah, the economy is good right now, but 2008, 2009 was not that long ago.
Lanée Blaise [00:12:17]:
Right. And we have that memory where we should be saving more and concentrating on that more and not doing so much Extravagant spending.
Sandy Kovach [00:12:25]:
I'm not judging here because I understand. I've certainly bought things that probably I didn't need. We've all done it.
Lanée Blaise [00:12:32]:
I know when I was a little kid I have a lot of sisters. My stepmom would take us to the grocery store or the mall, and we would drive her absolutely insane because, Again, with even marketing back then in those days, everything just looked so awesome. Like, gotta have it. Yeah. And even sometimes we'd convince ourselves we needed to have it. And whenever she starts singing she's another one. My I told you last podcast, my mom would sing these songs in the morning, but she would sing her song, which was It was not a good song. If she starts singing this song, we know we're not getting anything.
Lanée Blaise [00:13:03]:
And it was, I want, I want, I want. I need. I need. I need. I want. I want. I need. I need.
Lanée Blaise [00:13:10]:
I need. And she just get more and more and we're like, oh, she's about To blow. We have to stop asking. We're not getting anything. And that is how I feel that it just that echoes in my head. I want. I want. I want.
Lanée Blaise [00:13:21]:
I need. I need. I need. And sometimes I think, What if I just waited a few days, and this has happened, and I totally forget that I wanted to even buy such and such? And because I could've, in 20 seconds, bought it on Amazon or instant gratification. If you just give yourself a little room Or you don't get it. It's very likely you'll forget all about it. You've saved money
Lanée Blaise [00:13:43]:
and saved frustration and saved the trash heaps of the world by just Exercising some discipline and self control. You can just wait. Holding back.
Sandy Kovach [00:13:51]:
Wait. The instantness of being able to get something, as you mentioned, on Amazon Or you're scrolling on Facebook Sandy you somebody comes in with an ad well targeted to you or something that you
Lanée Blaise [00:14:03]:
They know what they want. They know what our our wants are.
Sandy Kovach [00:14:06]:
I mean, It's it's even worse because companies having our data, which is just a thing now. People started to be outraged by for a minute, and I think maybe We still are concerned about our privacy, but You've
Lanée Blaise [00:14:17]:
gotten used to it.
Sandy Kovach [00:14:18]:
We expect. It's like, okay. Well, they're targeting me because I googled Lincoln MKX, and so now
Lanée Blaise [00:14:25]:
okay. There I go. Now they really know. Yeah. They really
Sandy Kovach [00:14:27]:
Now they know.
Lanée Blaise [00:14:28]:
Watch your ads when you get home tonight, honey.
Sandy Kovach [00:14:30]:
Well, I think that You can pick up on it too. Have you ever said something out loud and then have Facebook serve you with an ad? This has happened to me a couple of times. You Told me
Lanée Blaise [00:14:40]:
about that. Yeah. That's hap and
Sandy Kovach [00:14:42]:
they say that it doesn't happen, but Do you
Lanée Blaise [00:14:44]:
have Alexa? Is she listening?
Sandy Kovach [00:14:46]:
I don't have Alexa. Okay.
Lanée Blaise [00:14:48]:
No. Okay. I know that again, like we talked about, marketing experts and strategists have become more and more clever Mhmm. Which puts the Onus on us to be more and more, cognizant of it, and don't let the temptations sweep us away. Because like I was saying before, you know, you gotta recognize that we do have a problem here. And like I said, I'm not bashing anybody. Don't feel guilty about Having these things coming at you, but maybe trying to retrain our thoughts and refocus. We can use more common sense.
Lanée Blaise [00:15:23]:
We can use more of a sense of balance in doing things in moderation. Like another podcast, we can think about why. What's the why behind what we're trying to Get more of. Do we really need it, or do we just get caught up? And then stop believing that lie that it's not enough. Because there's another part about this whole more, more, more thing. When it becomes greedy and me and more centered, it's almost like I need what you have, and I need to hoard it all up and gather it all up. And sharing is Just not an option, and there's limited resources. And
Sandy Kovach [00:15:59]:
Right. Right. Right.
Lanée Blaise [00:15:59]:
Is enough if we can just have A little discipline. And if we focus on what really matters, there's a beautiful and loving bible verse that's supposed to keep us focused, and it's Instead of concentrating on all the ridiculous garbage that's out there pushing for your attention, it just says whatever is true, Whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, If anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about those things. Think about your, in my case, my new little nieces that were just born this year. Think about them growing and learning and developing. I wish to think about this too. It's circle. Well, I think about my my daughter was telling me about my grandparents and how And her and her grandparents and how each of her grandparents, the different things that they have contributed to her life
Sandy Kovach [00:16:53]:
Mhmm.
Lanée Blaise [00:16:54]:
To make her who she is And how grateful she is that they're still alive and what they've contributed. Think about those things.
Sandy Kovach [00:17:01]:
Think about people in your life and relationships and experiences.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:05]:
I just hate the thought of if we are blessed with an abundance of health and home to live in and Family and friends and loved ones and pets and good job and things like that, and we get even more of it on our lives for some reason. And we would have the nerve to still sit there and look up and say, but I want more. This is like, If your kids did it or whatever too, you'd probably be like, you're being so ungrateful.
Sandy Kovach [00:17:32]:
Right.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:33]:
but you know or if someone asked if you you've given everything that you have and you've laid it all out beautifully And some kind of Grinch says, nope. That's still not enough. I want more. Yeah. We just maybe need to retrain Our thoughts a bit.
Sandy Kovach [00:17:47]:
Alright. So do we have some takeaways? I mean, you kind of alluded to a few of them. I'm sure.
Lanée Blaise [00:17:54]:
Well, I think that after all this is said and done, as much as we talked about concentrating on how less is better, There's a few things that I think where more is good. Okay. What if we have more self control, more patience, More responsible thinking. and, what if we have more love? Yeah. That's a more thing that's good. Right?
Sandy Kovach [00:18:19]:
More kindness.
Lanée Blaise [00:18:20]:
Yes. More light, more prayers, more joy in the little things.
Sandy Kovach [00:18:27]:
Joy in the little things. If you Feel the joy for those small things. Have the gratitude for those small things. Maybe you won't be focusing as much. And the next time somebody serves you an ad on Facebook for something that you just know you have to have, you'll be able to say, ah, swipe up and forget about it for the moment. Go.
Lanée Blaise [00:18:45]:
Yeah. Because there's also this quote that I love. I keep the little plaque of it in my room, and it says, enjoy the little things. Because one day, you may look back and realize they were the big things.
Sandy Kovach [00:18:59]:
I love that quote too. That is something to live by. The little things of life, the little conversations, the sunsets, the different relationships.
Lanée Blaise [00:19:10]:
That's where you get your more. That's what we want more of. And so, overall, this is making me feel like we're gonna need a part 2 Because, Sandy, you and I sometimes when we think about more, we thought about more things. But what if we dedicated another episode To when we feel like there's so much more that we feel like we are supposed to be responsible for and that element of more, more, more, more Pressures on us, more demands on us.
Sandy Kovach [00:19:38]:
Yeah. Another issue Yeah. That's very common. Yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:19:42]:
So just keep listening to imagine yourself. We're gonna hit that one 2, I think that would be
Sandy Kovach [00:19:46]:
Yeah. The very near future. Maybe next week, maybe in a couple weeks. But yeah.
Lanée Blaise [00:19:49]:
That can be our own takeaway. But overall, At the end of this one that we're working on today, can we just say imagine yourself facing the demands of this world that tries to get you to think more, more, more, but instead focus on the good things of life that really matter, Start thinking that there is enough, and start being satisfied with not having too little and not having too big, but having just
Sandy Kovach [00:20:20]:
right. Just right. That's right. Thanks for listening. Now we'd like to hear from you. Got an idea for the show? Wanna share your story or just say hello? Make sure you connect with us. You can do that at imagine yourself podcast cast.com, and we'll talk to you again next time when we have something new to imagine.
