Wants versus Needs

I have been recently thinking about wants versus needs. It seems to me that many people in this western culture (specifically the US) have this obsession with wants. I personally have fallen victim to this way of thinking for many years, and I still fight to get beyond it.
As I get older, I realize more and more that life is not about wants, but about needs. When I focus on wants, I am focused on myself. When I admit that life is not about me, I can start focusing on others and contributing to the world around me.
Surviving
Most people I know talk about "just surviving" out there in the world. What they mean by this is that they would like to make more progress on getting what they want and spend less time on struggling to make ends meet. This whole view point, while common and seemingly innocent, is based on selfishness. I used to say this kind of thing all the time, but now I try and take the perspective that life is about making ends meet, not about getting past that so I can get those things I want.
Joy and happiness can be found to a great degree in "making ends meet". I believe that more happiness can be found in the "mundane" activities of life than in the pursuit of self-fulfillment. When we work to get what we want, we are often disappointed and unhappy - when we work to serve others and make ends meet, we can find happiness and fulfillment.

I say, forget about the self-focused wants, and start doing what you need to do.