Aspirational Overload

I was watching the Lifestyle Channel's "Inside Tatler" last night when I realised that although there is something to be said for aspirational media, it often just makes my heart sink with the realisation that some things are not within my reach.

What I mean is, although I do enjoy a good mag about lovely homes, and often indulge in a short daydream about having All White Everything, I usually have the good sense to realise that it is probably something that I will never achieve personally.

Barring winning the lotto, or suddenly becoming a voracious and ambitious wildly successful entrepreneur, I am never going to have the money required to make some of my lifestyle dreams come true in my lifetime. A reality check brings one up short before you can get too carried away with fantasies about shopping sprees in New York, private jets and live-in domestics.

Pinterest is another great source of life inspiration and while I do find it fun, I usually reach my perfect loungeroom/impeccable street style saturation point within half an hour.

Harsh reality crashes back in as soon as you close the browser window, or shut the magazine. A life where there are always dirty dishes in the sink, somebody has to take out the rubbish and tomorrow you have to go to work but you haven't done the washing so you have to put a load on at 10pm.

I have also learnt to look economically downwards not up all the time. To practise some gratitude for the lovely things I do have that some people don't. A good husband. A house. A job. A car. 

So, thank you, Tatler/Home Beautiful/Marie Claire/Country Style/Rich Kids of Instagram. I'll use your beautiful things as inspiration, with a pinch of aspiration; but I do need to keep my feet on the ground and head out of the clouds.

But it won't stop me keeping a mental file of lovely things I desire - for that day that I do inherit a fortune from a long-lost relative.

Do you love or hate aspirational media? Is it a motivator or a source of frustration for you?