Trying to fill the feeling of emptiness with stuff is impossible. It's like putting things into a jar that's upside down.
I know because I've tried. I bought and went after things that I thought would make me happier or better. I never even questioned what I was doing. I saw other people doing the same thing. It seemed normal.
Occasionally I had a quiet underlying feeling of, "This isn't going to work." For a while I could ignore that whisper because the ambition for more was so seductive.
But over time, the unhappy sense, the echo of the emptiness got louder. It was at this point that I knew that nothing I obtained would drown out the hollowness.
That's when I started shedding the things I'd acquired that weren't making me happy. It was easy because my possession of them now seemed like a burden.
I received such a deep sense of peacefulness as I let go of the clutter. In a backwards way, I got the feeling that I was after when I was chasing things to try and feel better.
I became aware that the only thing that was going to make me happy was a connection with myself, and from there, a connection with the things I naturally loved, like art, writing, nature and my kind-hearted friends.