Cool, Smart, And Happy—Or Not

Own this thing, dress this way.

It doesn’t really work, does it?

If you wear the right clothes, if you own the right stuff, then everything in your life will be perfect.

When you put it like that it’s clear this is not true. But it is oh so hard to overcome thinking like that.

I’ve recently began thinking that I need a uniform, a set of clothes that I could wear anywhere and look good in. Steve Jobs did it with a black mock turtle and jeans. If I had a uniform of my own, I’d look cool and be happy, right?

It’s not that easy.

I’m equally fascinated by sites like EDC - Every Day Carry, which shows photos of the really cool objects that people carry in their pockets (seriously - check it out, but don’t blame me when you lose hours to this stuff). And bags! If I had just the right bag . . .

Being happy, being smart, has nothing to do with the things one owns. Being cool isn’t something that you can make or claim for yourself. Others decide if you’re cool. You decide if it matters.

And that’s where I set my expectations, with one simple question: will this thing matter? I don’t want a thing simply because of the way it appears. I want things that I can use, that make a difference to me. It so happens that I prefer things that are well made, that the design of the object improves how it functions.

If I look goofy or uncool while using something, I don’t care as long as the thing I’m doing and the things I’m using matter. I love the Energizer 4 LED Headlamp (3 AAA Batteries Included) because it works great and frees both hands so I can do things AND see at the same time.

What could be more cool than that?

The Cool, Smart, And Happy—Or Not by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Tagged as: clothes, cool, dress, energizer, fashion, head lamp