“Need” is a strong word.
I know language evolves, it has to. It has to find a way to reflect the current condition of the world, the current usage.
But “need” is too strong, its use (or misuse) too pervasive and the impact of that misuse too great to slide by unaddressed.
You need shelter. You need to eat. You need to drink. You need to sleep.
Literally everything else is a choice.
You don’t NEED to go to the gym.
You don’t NEED to start eating better.
You don’t NEED to find a new job.
“Need” means you’re giving up your power to a force outside of yourself, that you’re capitulating to someone else’s will. Need is an external force acting on you and by saying “I need…” you’re allowing it to happen. You’re a spectator in your own life watching other people pull your strings like a marionette.
Instead of saying “I need,” put down the phone, shut your laptop and turn off your TV, stop for a second and ask yourself, “What do I want?”
Not, “What do advertisements tell me I should want?”
Not, “What do others want for me?” Or worse, “from me”?
What do you actually want?
Now write it down and go get it.