I was in my early 20s and being paid a lot more money than my parents ever did, which made it seemed like I had made it. I got my own bachelor pad, a car, expensive clothes. I was eating out at restaurants regularly, ordering good wines, and hitting night clubs afterwards. If I heard that there was a festival on the other side of the world next weekend, I'd book a plane and get tickets.
Intermission. During this period I read this psychology book (called "Thinking, Fast and Slow") and it talks about how people get used to their lives no matter how good or bad they seem. Whether you win the lottery or become permanently disabled, eventually your life seems normal, since you're not constantly thinking about the fact that you won the lottery or became disabled, roughly speaking.
After almost a decade I suffered from poor mental health and had to quit my job to live with my parents. Trying to stay positive I thought back to the book, "this can't be too bad, I'll get used to it". And I did, apart from a good laptop I've come to the realization that I'm not missing out by having fewer material possessions, but some things I miss.
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Lack of stress. Simple living is supposed to reduce stress but in some ways it has increased it. A pipe breaks, for example, now there are bills to pay and you don't have the money to get it fixed. Having no money can make you really anxious once you experience something like this, too. What if I injure myself and need money for a dentist?
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Comfort. This is a minor thing but I can't look at chores in any positive way. When you had maids clean your house for you, doing the dishes or washing, hanging and ironing clothes gets really tedious.
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Holidays. I really enjoyed traveling, trips, camping. Now I'm pretty much home-bound. There's a big world out there and I feel like I'm missing out just staying in one city all year.
Could someone shed some light on how the simple living philosophy deals with these issues?
Submitted June 29, 2017 at 02:27PM by lost_photographs http://ift.tt/2slRGlq
