Often, people look at major changes to their lives and balk at the perceived challenge of change. Many see simple living the same way they see the New Year’s commitment to a diet regimen. It is this perspective that imposes artificial barriers. Seeing simplicity as an opportunity, rather than a challenge, changes the approach from a task into a pleasure.
Perspective means seeing things from a specific angle or view. This implies that there is not a right or a wrong view, but merely a different one.
What a person from a train platform sees is not the same as what a traveller on the train sees. Perhaps this is a corollary of Einstein’s theory of relativity, but applicable to daily life rather than time. To carry the analogy further, how and when we see things from different perspectives determines our reaction to it. Even the environment in which we observe or partake influences perspective.
Imagine a wealthy corporate executive who owns a vacation home in Martha’s Vineyard travelling to New Orleans. He books a Silver Crown resort north of Lake Ponchartrain, expecting that, since it is the second highest standard in the RCI grouping, it will offer luxury. He arrives to find basic amenities, an aging complex, only an outdoor pool in February and no access to in-house transportation. To him, it is a dive.
Now, imagine a poor local, who lives west of Bourbon Street in a two-room home with four other family members. They are given a week vacation at the same resort as the executive. It is a two-bedroom unit, with a kitchen, dining room, living room, in-suite sauna, and two bathrooms. What a mansion! But it is the same unit that the executive rented.
Perspective.
Next, examine a picture of a fairly stark scene: a wide, slow river, with patches of snow along the bank and fringes of leafless trees. The cutline, or caption, says that the temperature is 40F or 5C. There is a breeze blowing at 10-15 mph (15-25kph). You must use your imagination here! Is it a cool autumn day or a warm early spring day in Manitoba, Canada?
Perspective.
If it is a fall day, you likely bundle up; a spring day, you break out the shorts.
Many people to whom I have spoken say that they would love to live a simple life but that there are too many modern necessities they are unwilling to relinquish. Perspective. What is a necessity? We will discuss this a little later.
When I was getting to know my new father-in-law a couple of decades ago, he told me how he really wanted to become a vegetarian. His spouse, though, continued to cook a diet that relied heavily on meat. Since he couldn’t cook, being of an older era, he ate what she prepared. He also ate a good deal of it but maintained a healthy weight for a seventy-year-old.
Knowing that he hoped to become more of a vegetarian, whenever we hosted family dinners, I cooked at least three meatless options.
Julien, though, in four years, never touched these choices. Rather, he opted for conventional and identifiable “greens,” potatoes and meat.
Finally, assuming that there was something off-putting about my selections, I asked him why he did not try the vegan dishes.
“I would like to be a vegetarian,” he responded, “but I love my meat too much!”
Perspective. I had failed to look deeper into his statements about wanting to go vegan and had failed to see from his perspective.
So, back to simple living and necessities.
First, want and need are not the same. Do we need the latest cell phone, or want it? Only if there are features in the new phone that are essential for your work or life can it be a necessity. A better camera is not a necessity. Neither is advanced graphics for gaming. Perhaps, if you use your phone and link it to a company network to do work while on the road, it may be needed. Perhaps the upgraded camera is needed if you are taking detailed pictures for an insurance company claim. But to buy this phone because it takes better pictures of your group of friends doing silly things means you are buying a want, not a need.
Precisely here, at this crossroads, many people who want to embrace the simple life see a major barrier. It is more than a hurdle. It is insurmountable. It is an impenetrable wall because we see what we are giving up in life, instead of what we are gaining.
I live simply. But I live such a rich life than most of my friends express envy and wonder at how I can enjoy the things they only dream about.
I cruise. I take exotic vacations. I travel often. I try an enormously varied cuisine. And I do so while living on an income that puts my wife and I below the poverty line.
A friend worked with a fella who often expressed envy and disbelief that Gert could take two all-inclusive winter vacations, while earning the same as Gert’s fellow worker. Gert and Connie were not minimalists, nor did they live a simple life, but the knew what was important to them. They liked to travel and escape Canada’s cold winters.
“How many cigarettes do you smoke each day? How many bottles of rum do you buy each week or how many beer do you drink?” Gert asked.
The two calculated that Gert’s colleague was spending nearly $9,000 per year on alcohol and tobacco.
“But I can’t do without those things. I wouldn’t make it through the day.”
“Then you have made your choice,” Gert responded. “I choose not to smoke or drink. I like to take vacations.”
From his friend’s perspective, there was no option. He could not break through the barrier of altering his priorities. And to him, Gert simply lived beyond his means.
How important are the things you spend money on? How important is the time you spend doing things that fill your life?
These are the ideas that will shape how you approach simple living. Simple living requires that you adjust your perspective and understand what is important in your life. It will not and should not be the same as the person next to you.
Quote about working to get ahead and accumulate…………