There are simple people and there are deprived people. Yet on the surface you can hardly distinguish one from the other. It is actually the individual himself/herself who can know the real score. Here is one question that can help you differentiate the two:

Are you happy with what you have right now?

Or

Are you yearning for something but dare not buy or do it?

When you look at both of them, they are more or less the same in the exterior. They wore no fancy clothes, no fancy jewelries. They are basically soft spoken and very down-to-earth. But it’s what’s inside that matter.

Simple people are basically happy people. Whatever they have right now, they counted as blessings. They never cared what others think of them. They have their yearnings. They want this and that (just like any other human being), but never lose sleep or get obsessed even if they didn’t have it. These types of people are not afraid to “enjoy life” but they aren’t flamboyant either. They are very secure with their position in the society and most importantly they are totally “at peace with themselves”. These type of people are thrifty but not because they are miser but because it takes so little to make them happy. Chances are in the end, whatever they want, they will get. Why? Their needs are simple, always within reach and realistic.

Deprived people are basically people who wanted this and that as well. But they get obsessed with things and lose sleep agonizing over them, yet they dare not go out and buy it, which is the very reason why they become obsessed. The reason is not because they don’t have the resource to get it (in fact most of them do have the resources), but it’s more of a psychological fear. But once they summoned enough resolve to buy, they will feel guilty and will be so protective of what they bought, they won’t even use and will just keep it instead. Or if they decided to do something like excursions (or going abroad) they will feel the same guilt (or fear) and will end up scrimping this or that thus depriving themselves of complete enjoyment.

Whether it’s “savings in the bank” or “new jewelries or clothes”, for these people keeping them and just being there is enough. They are simply contented to just wake up in the morning knowing it’s there. These type of people are afraid to enjoy life too much and have this “it’s too good to be true, something’s bound to happen” mentality every time they are having an extremely good time. In the end, they will always be torn between yearning and guilt, torn between wanting to be happy and fear of being too happy. A very vicious cycle indeed unless they learn to wiggle out from it.