WHAT YOU WANT, ISN’T WHAT YOU NEED:

A REFLECTION FROM THE MOVIE “CONFESSIONS OF SHOPAHOLIC”

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the most important

needs of humans that can be seen and touched are just
psychosocial needs, which include food, water, shelter, and
clothes, making them the foundation of the pyramid-5th level.
Other needs, from the bottom to the top of the pyramid, are
mainly felt by the inner state, namely safety(4th level), love
and belongingness(3rd level), self-esteem(2nd level), and self-
actualization (1st level). When a person's basic needs are met,
he or she will move on to meeting higher-level needs.

Rebecca Bloomwood, the protagonist of Confessions of a

Shopaholic, is a teenage shopping addict who aspires to be a
journalist for a well-known fashion publication. Her favorite
pastime gets the best of her along the way, culminating in
multiple maxed-out credit cards. Rebecca then faces several
unique challenges, including dealing with an aggressive debt
collector, keeping her relationship with her best friend, Suze,
and expecting countless deadlines in a finance magazine. While
her addiction may have seemed to be a sweet role, her experiences
become a reminder to everyone. The most interesting aspect of the
movie is when Rebecca manages to land a writing job at
Successful Savings, a magazine on a topic she knows nothing
about, ironically. The character of Rebecca develops but gives an
insight into the growing materialistic mindset of society. 

Like Maslow’s theory perceive, Rebecca still can’t move on to the

4th level of the pyramid, thus stuck on the foundation which is
the psychosocial needs. With this, her safety needs expanding by
her emotional stability, health security, and financial security
are affected. In addition, she is also in need of love and
belongingness, a need to bond with her best friend, a state in
the 3rd-level pyramid. She still can’t differentiate what she
needed for her to live in contentment complementary to her action
by buying enormous clothes and garments. Fortunately, as the
story develops, I see Rebecca overcoming his addiction, climbing
Maslow’s 5-stage pyramid until he reached the 1st-level, which is
self-actualization by exploring new things she unusually does,
and by inspiring others by telling them her experiences.
My spending habit is not s bad as Rebecca’s, but what I learned is
that we should differentiate what we want from what we need. It is
okay if we reward ourselves with our hard-earned money, but before
spending some, we should ask ourselves, Is it really what I need?, or
is it what I want?. It is okay to reward yourself the happiness and
pleasure you deserve, but before doing it, plan your life out. Budget
the time, the money, and the goal that should be placed and be
achieved in your life. Make it simple yet enjoyable.

I remembered a quote from Derrick Simmons, “IF MATERIAL THINGS ARE

WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT WHEN YOU SAY “I’M BLESSED”, YOU HAVE NO IDEA
WHAT A BLESSING IS.” I am overwhelmed that my parents instilled a
simple character in me, opposite what Rebecca grows from her
childhood. It is to overshadow material things by the most important
things that can be felt by the heart: love, relationship, kindness,
and humility. As long as you are contented with what you have yet
never mediocre of it, you will see life in a bigger picture. This
time, you can climb Maslow’s pyramid of needs up to the top, seeing
the wide view of the world on  how beautiful and purposeful life is.
That’s the time you see life as a blessing that should be treasured
until the last breath.