Getting Needs Met

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately around needs and wants and the ways in which we both meet and ignore both.  On my way in to work today I decided to put my book and phone down and just take in my surroundings, and the one thing that really jumped out at me what how bombarded we are on a daily basis with information and ideas around ways to have our needs and desires met.  From ads for warm vacations, to coffee, to food, to clothing there is no shortage of options for things that will make us feel fulfilled or complete, or so the ads would have you believe.
I started to think more about this and around the idea of how do we really know what it is that we do need at any given moment.  Is it the ads and seeing what others have and we don't that motivates us, is it a deep down desire or need that we listen to, or is it a whim or spur of the moment decision that leads us to our next purchase?  Then it dawned on me that we can spend so much time in pursuit of these things, these potential distractions or placeholders that we miss what it is that we really are in search of.  And those cues come from inside of us, not an ad on a billboard or on a website.  And these internal triggers are not always for things that we necessarily want to embrace.  They are often for the things that we are trying to avoid, like quiet time to dig deeper into a feeling or situation that needs attention in our lives, time to really come to a hard decision on something that we have been avoiding, or simply facing a reality about ourselves or our lives that we haven't wanted to because it won't be a comfortable place to be.  Instead we look for ways to self-medicate and distract so these internal cues are muffled.  We turn to food, to shopping, to alcohol or other ways of numbing those signals from within.  And this is not to say that a glass of wine out of enjoyment, or a decadent dessert or purchase of something that is truly meaningful or useful is an issue.  It is when those actions become things that we need to do in order to feel better about something.  I have had many moments in my life when I have felt the need to numb pain or ignore areas of my life that I was not ready to address.  Often the way I did this was to become super busy - fill my days with so many things that they were spilling out of the sides and I could not really accomplish it all, but if nothing else I went to bed exhausted and unable to think at all.  From the outside this can be seen as living life to the fullest and being someone who is really making the most of every day....when in reality it was the opposite.  Finally there comes a point where you simply can't ignore the things that have been swept under the rug any longer because no matter what you do, you keep tripping over them.  For me it was injury that finally forced me to slow down as I had no other option.  And it was scary to slow down, because I had no idea what was going to happen next, and also felt that I had no control over it.  As it turned out, this was probably the best thing that could have happened, as I finally spent time looking inside and pulling apart some things that had been piling up in the corners.  As I got comfortable being uncomfortable I also found that slowing down was less scary than I had originally thought it would be.  I started to actually look forward to the quiet moments of reflection and unpacking, as it usually led to a place of peacefulness.  There were definitely moments that were not enjoyable and that left me to deal with emotions that were unsettling, and in those moments I just had to remind myself that this was simply a step in the path ahead and that the feelings weren't going to last forever.  I have learned to embrace those emotions and to let them flow just as I do the positive ones as they all are part of the ebb and flow and without the downs you can't truly appreciate the ups.