Better to have, and not need, than to need and not have.

Attributed to Franz Kafka.

The problem is that we attribute need to too many things.

Telling ourselves that we can’t live without them.

Usually that’s stuff.

Sometimes it’s people.

We all need people, but if the people we have aren’t meeting our needs, are they people we should have?

Emotional capitalism at its best tells us we need more: more relationships, more friends, more interactions.