Throughout the years, I’ve come to learn that what I seek in my dreams plays a significant role in what I own in reality. Although I don’t have all of the money in the world, I still find myself buying and wanting possessions of greater value. Whether it’s a Banana Republic shirt or Georgio Armani cologne, I like to possess items of quality. I am not sure if it’s the sense of having expensive items that gets me, or, the fact that they are actually worth their value. There’s nothing worse than buying the generic version of a product and being let down from a defect, it just says “I told you so” right on the label when something like that happens.
When I speak of dreams I’m not referring to my dreams when I sleep, but rather the dreams and thoughts of what I desire, the things I wish I could have. After looking around my apartment and brainstorming about my lifestyle, it appears to me that I’ve become quite modern about the things I buy and wear. I see a tall fake plant in the corner of the room, sitting slightly angled to the side of a framed picture of the Statue of Liberty. It makes me wonder why I bought those particular items, what triggered my sensation of having something elegant but fake? I see more examples of modernism when I look at the wire frame statues of the Empire State Building and the Eifel Tower. Could these purchases all be relevant to the pictures I see in my head of where I want to live or what I want to do?
I feel like these thoughts I have when I am day dreaming, or as the millennials would say, “zoning out”, are supposed to be fantasies, but I somehow try to make them a reality. Although I live in a small 1,000 square foot apartment, I like to think when I walk inside that I am living in my dream home – some exotic penthouse with beautiful furniture and art, picture windows that let the sunlight in, ceiling fans, and hanging light fixtures. Everything in my apartment reminds me of that, except the kitchen, the only place in my apartment that doesn’t feel modern at all. With somewhat out of date appliances and painfully ugly countertops, one could see why I only pay $650 a month for rent.
Despite those dilemmas, I’ve accomplished this image through buying items of similarity to those in which I dream of having. Looking back into the kitchen, I’ve done a few things to counter the tackiness of the room. Slabs of scrap marble are put together to cover the countertop in most areas, giving it more of an exotic look rather than the bland look of the original countertop. This is all appealing to me, because I’ve always envisioned myself having marble countertops. Even though they’re something I could never afford right now, they’re in my apartment and they were free.
Everything I see around me is related to something I’ve thought about having in a better life somewhere. It’s amazing how our vivid imaginations play such a huge role in who we are and what we possess. One would think that you would organize your things around your lifestyle, for me, my lifestyle is organized around my things. When I was younger the things I bought were always relative to what I was doing at the time, it didn’t really matter if there was a status that I had to uphold. I also wasn’t the one buying everything which made the value of my possessions much less. Now days I find this perspective to be just the opposite.
I like this quote, "décor is a symbol of self, and the language of ornament and decoration communicates particularly well.”-Joan Kron, semiotics of home décor. It's a perfect statement towards the way I feel about my possessions, describing that I speak to people through a materialistic sign language. I believe I speak to myself with this language more than anyone else; it’s a great way to keep the idea of who I want to be and who I am in perspective as I continue to dream and build my identity.
Between the possessions I own and the things I want to obtain, it’s clear that I have yet to complete my list of wants. I somehow doubt that I will ever be able to complete that list, but that’s what is so great about dreaming; it’s only an impersonation of reality. I don’t have to worry about whether I can afford everything or if I have enough space. I can have whatever I want in my dream list of possessions, making them a reality is a choice.
Everything I see around me is related to something I’ve thought about having in a better life somewhere. It’s amazing how our vivid imaginations play such a huge role in who we are and what we possess. One would think that you would organize your things around your lifestyle, for me, my lifestyle is organized around my things. When I was younger the things I bought were always relative to what I was doing at the time, it didn’t really matter if there was a status that I had to uphold. I also wasn’t the one buying everything which made the value of my possessions much less. Now days I find this perspective to be just the opposite.
I like this quote, "décor is a symbol of self, and the language of ornament and decoration communicates particularly well.”-Joan Kron, semiotics of home décor. It's a perfect statement towards the way I feel about my possessions, describing that I speak to people through a materialistic sign language. I believe I speak to myself with this language more than anyone else; it’s a great way to keep the idea of who I want to be and who I am in perspective as I continue to dream and build my identity.
Between the possessions I own and the things I want to obtain, it’s clear that I have yet to complete my list of wants. I somehow doubt that I will ever be able to complete that list, but that’s what is so great about dreaming; it’s only an impersonation of reality. I don’t have to worry about whether I can afford everything or if I have enough space. I can have whatever I want in my dream list of possessions, making them a reality is a choice.
