Wanting nice things doesn’t make you shallow. Making them your entire worth does.

There is nothing wrong with liking good shoes, a clean room, a car that works. Wanting nice things is ordinary, and pretending otherwise is its own kind of performance. The trouble starts when the object becomes the evidence, when you need the thing in order to feel like somebody worth knowing. Then every purchase is a test you can fail.

Name one thing you want and ask what you expect to feel once you have it. If the answer is comfort or pleasure, buy it when you can afford it. If the answer is proof, the thing will not deliver.