Would this be your first "less is more" Christmas?

It's become commonplace to talk about "being is more important than having, " right?

That's why the proposal for this last reflection for the year 2023 moves in this direction and... Makes a detour to follow what seems to be a trend among younger people.

Many avoid commenting on the uncomfortable reality of plastic islands floating in our oceans, resulting from tons of packaging of what we consume and discard into the environment, without worrying much about their destination.

Debates about the reasons behind the increase in temperature, in many cities across the Southern Hemisphere, engage some people, for some time until someone turns on the air conditioning's polar breeze and guarantees refreshment on days when the heat made everyone's life very uncomfortable and the temperatures reached 59 degrees Celsius, in the shade. Where? In Bangu, a neighborhood located in the North Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro and... Also on some of the beaches on the North coast of the state of São Paulo.

Could these changes be nature's response to how humans exist and have been inhabiting the Planet, for years? While the scientific discussion behind the facts in this scenario intensifies, some children and young people surprise us by rethinking their relationship with consumer goods and the appeal to unrestrained shopping on the eve of Christmas.

Some letters to Santa asked for a machine to make Mom and Dad stay at home longer. Others revealed the desire to have more time to play and sleep. Some others brought the hope of seeing, for one more time,  those who have become little stars in the sky.

The list is long, but the feeling seems to be the same: fewer products and more proximity to those we love.

Perhaps this is the best gift that our children can give us at the end of the year: the opportunity to rethink our relationship with consumption based on what we miss most at the end of each day.

Happy Holidays 

Vanessa Meirelles

Psychopedagogue Human Identity Researcher

Master in Social Psychology from PUC São Paulo

Member of the Brazilian Association of Psychopedagogy - ABPp 722

Image: Etienne Girardet