Bring Back Sanity!
And why half the world has nothing to eat while the other half eats too much
Close your eyes, and imagine. Ho …. You have a point there. If you close your eyes you will not be able to continue reading. So forget that, carry on reading and close your eyes after you have finished reading this paragraph.
Doing just that, I try imagining my own self, only twenty years from now. What am I doing right now? What am I wearing? Which thoughts are keeping me busy? Is it anything related to the problem I have at work right now? Is it in any way linked to someone that got on my nerves today, or didn’t answer my calls yesterday making me upset? Or, is it likely related to bigger things in life, more significant? I walk around in the supermarkets lately, people are out of control. I have completely stopped flying and driving around all the time, just like most people today, and the world has not crumbled apart as a result, maybe even the exact opposite.
Now, close your eyes, and imagine.
Half the world has nothing to eat, while the other half eats too much
I am experimenting this myself lately. The long hours at home and many of my day to day routines that have almost completely stopped, took me to a journey of a lot of thinking. And the one thought that keeps coming back at me is the simplicity I miss in my life. That is one unfortunate loss I can remember having a long time ago. But I want to believe it is not too late to retrieve either.
So, from shuffled thoughts this also came down to more specific and practical guidelines that I would like to try and retrieve after this long break from life and hopefully I will make these long term habits that I’ll embrace as a way of living.
Enjoy simple but frequent activities.
That holiday I have been dreaming about and saving for!? That Caribbean cruise, or that one month trip to Australia I planed for in two years time from now!? Well forget that already. What I need to start doing is take action and go camping. Go to a small boutique hotel in the city with my significant other. Register to a nice activity with my kids or ditch work sometimes in the middle of the day to have lunch with them.
If I do those things on a regular basis and enjoy my actual day to day, my life will become a holiday and I will not need to wait three years for a three week trip on the other side of the world, just to enjoy a very momentary piece of joy.
The outer world by the way will want me to do as little as possible from whatever makes me feel good.
Use my money in small portions.
My bank account is not unlimited. But I prefer to start buying little stuff going forward as much as possible. That is, because to my opinion the satisfaction comes more from the act of buying itself rather than what I actually buy. There are scientific articles proving that, with the hormones being released and everything. But it is enough to remember the last time I got a salary raise and how long the joy and satisfaction lasted, before feeling I wanted another raise. So going three times to eat outside in a simple neighborhood pub or ice cream shop will be my preferred option upon going out once to a posh restaurant.
Stop letting ‘being nice’ rule me.
I’m totally fed up with this one. I find myself doing so many things just to be nice. I am not talking about doing things for others I love. Of course that I will keep doing that because it fills me with joy. But spending two hours of my time meeting someone for something I care very little about just because I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feeling? The hell with it, I’ll invest those hours with my kids , or do something else I love.
Find what makes me feel good, and do it more.
Here is a simple question: What makes me feel good? Pausing, and thinking about this, turns out it is not just another simple question after-all. I thought about it for a while and came to the following conclusion: Doing sport, spending time with my kids doing simple daily stuff, and keeping an active social life. Those are the things that personally make me feel good. The meaning of this is, that if a full week passes by and I will not do some sport, and not be with my kids aside from tucking them to bed, and not talk or meet with friends at least once, then I am doing something very wrong with how I manage my time and my life.
The outer world by the way, wants me to do as little as possible from whatever makes me feel good. My boss and working environment may want me connected to emails much more on the expense of what makes me feel good. Society will want me to think about making money and dealing with my status signs much more so that next time I’ll attend another social event I can talk about how successful I am.
