If I ask you to choose whether you are materialistic or not, your answer would most probably be “Of course I am not !”. Well, I also used to think the same way. I am not materialistic. No way !
It was back in late December and I returning from office. It was past 10 pm and was a very typical cold night - the kind of cold that cuts through your thick layers of clothes and manages to reach your bones. The situation was even worse because I was riding my scooter. I was shivering and hoping to reach home soon and drink something hot. I study and work as well. My classes start in the morning at 7am and goes on till 1pm and work starts from 2pm to 10 pm. So that day I left home at around 6:45am after having a cup of tea and some biscuits, ate some shitty canteen food in break time around 10 am and went straight to office. Then I worked like a donkey (literally). It was a very exhausting day and when I was returning from work in my scooter, a couple of stray dogs came out of nowhere and started barking and chasing me. I was startled because they came suddenly and was about to lose control. The condition of road was also bad that you could fall down anytime and anywhere. Luckily I managed to control and avoided some major accident. The dogs then ran away. I took a deep breath and stopped there for like a minute until I could be totally calm.
At that moment and through the whole ride back home, I was wishing I had a better life than this. I was feeling jealous of all the people who were sitting cosily inside their warm bed in thick quilts while I had to ride through the cold and on top of that nearly had an accident because of stupid dogs ! I felt jealous of all the folks who didn't have to work. I wished I didn't have to work like this at odd hours in the cold. I wished I could afford a car so that I could at least protect myself from cold and situations like this even if I had to work odd hours. I wished I was rich or born to very rich parents ! I wished I was better off.
I am the type of person who loves what he's got and like being independent (at least financially) but that night got me really materialistic. I could hardly sleep that night because my mind was full of chaos and materialistic thoughts.
If I think of the situation now, well, it was (and still is), my choice to work and study because I wanted to be able to pay my fees on my own and not be a burden to my parents or anyone. It was a well thought decision from my side. That night was one of the worst of times and it passed. I was back being normal after a few days as well. Those were the hardships that I had to go through in order to have a satisfaction of being independent. They say life is a compromise and I was compromising my comforts of warm bed, time for enjoyment and a regular life, and it's fine and I have made my peace with the situation as well. I hope that one day all these hard work pays off :).