“There is nothing on TV.”
“The printer is jammed again!”
“The gas mileage in this SUV is awful.”
“The battery in my laptop doesn’t last.”
These statements represent “luxury problems.” Spend some time listening and you will hear examples of these all around.
Luxury problems are the difficulties that we experience because we have the privilege of owning pricey, high-tech gadgets and living in an industrialized nation. People in third world countries would be happy to have such troubles.
If you have ever had to do without the basic necessities of life for a while, you realize how fortunate we are to have these frustrations.
Think about a time when you lost power at your home. Or when a water main broke and you were without a flushing toilet. These situations are rare in our daily lives, but when they happen, we are humbled by what we take for granted almost every day of the year.
What I like about the concept of luxury problems, is that it is always a great reminder for me to put things into perspective when I’m having a bad day.
Instead of grumbling about the traffic, I can be thankful to own a car. Instead of complaining that the WiFi is slow, I can be grateful for the opportunity to have Internet access almost everywhere I go (when I was in Africa, finding an Internet connection sometimes meant a 3-hour journey!).
And ironically, for almost every luxury item that causes us problems, we have ANOTHER luxury item that helps us to deal with it (Cable out? Boot up the iPad.). Let’s face it – we’re pretty fortunate.
So, the next time there is a long line at the Starbuck’s drive-thru, my iPhone isn’t syncing, and nothing interesting is on Hulu, I’m going to sit back and be grateful for all of the wonderful problems that I have.
Just a small change in perspective can make the day 100 times better.