A Small Shift in Words… A Big Shift in Perspective

It’s interesting how one word can change everything…

Especially the way we justify what we want.

My teenage son: “Mum, I need a gaming PC badly.”

Me: “You ‘need’ or ‘want’?”

Him: “…kinda need.”

Me: “Well, it’s not in the budget, but if you need it that badly, talk to God about it.

He answers children’s prayers.”

Him: “Are you calling me a child, mom?” (dramatic pout)

Me: “Oh, feel free to join the long line of adults… patiently waiting.”

Him: “…Never mind. I’m still a child.” 😂

And just like that… clarity (lol).

Self-awareness isn’t always deep or dramatic.

Sometimes, it shows up in small, honest moments like realizing we don’t actually need what we said we needed or choosing to adopt a childlike posture to learn where there is a knowledge gap.

We all do this. We upgrade our wants into needs to justify urgency.

We stretch language to match desire, but growth happens when we pause and ask:

𝑰𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒚 𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅… 𝒐𝒓 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕?

My son chose “child status” that day because it came with benefits 😄

But in that moment, he also demonstrated something powerful:

The ability to reassess, adjust, and own the truth.

That’s self-awareness.

So, here is the question for you:

What’s something you’ve been calling a “need”… that might be a “want”?

BISOLA MOGAJI