I recently posted the following statement to Facebook:
“The older I get, the more I long for a simple, quiet, uncomplicated life.”
One of my Facebook friends, an old high school buddy responded:
“A.K.A. You wish you were a kid again. ...”
I wouldn’t necessarily say I’d like to be a child again, although I think any adult would favor the the thought of having someone else deal with all of their worries. First of all, my childhood was not that great. Even though I know many people who had it off worse than I did, my childhood years, even up through high school, were...less than splendid. Furthermore, I have no problem with “adulting”. I am perfectly fine being a productive, responsible member of society, holding down a job, paying my bills, honoring my responsibilities, being kind to my fellow humans, and all of the other things adults are supposed to do. I don’t have some sort of “Peter Pan syndrome”, wishing I could sit around and play video games all day while eating hot pockets and drinking Mountain Dew in my parents’ basement.
For me, I’m just tired of chasing the “American dream”. Over the past few years, in particular, I’ve grown weary of, as Tyler Durden (or maybe it was George Carlin) put it in “working jobs we hate so we can buy (stuff) we don’t need, to impress people we don’t even like”. I’m tired of the rat race. I’m tired of materialism. I’m tired of collecting rooms and rooms full of STUFF so I can donate it to Goodwill every year.
I just want a simple life. I want to focus my life on the F; faith, family, friends, and fun. At the end of life, too many people regret the fact that they spent so much time working, and not enough time enjoying life. I just want to enjoy life. I want to spend quality time with the people that mean the most to me. I want to simplify my life. Too many commitments, too many appointments, too many meetings. Too much time spent on things that will not matter in the long term. Is this too much to ask?
Maybe I'm being naive. Maybe life is just too complicated. I'm inclined to believe life is only as complicated and noisy as we make it. When we decide to cut out the unnecessary and focus on what really matters, we can live a more happy, productive, and fulfilling life. Now the hard part is trying to figure out how to do that. This, is where my adventure will begin...
“The older I get, the more I long for a simple, quiet, uncomplicated life.”
One of my Facebook friends, an old high school buddy responded:
“A.K.A. You wish you were a kid again. ...”
I wouldn’t necessarily say I’d like to be a child again, although I think any adult would favor the the thought of having someone else deal with all of their worries. First of all, my childhood was not that great. Even though I know many people who had it off worse than I did, my childhood years, even up through high school, were...less than splendid. Furthermore, I have no problem with “adulting”. I am perfectly fine being a productive, responsible member of society, holding down a job, paying my bills, honoring my responsibilities, being kind to my fellow humans, and all of the other things adults are supposed to do. I don’t have some sort of “Peter Pan syndrome”, wishing I could sit around and play video games all day while eating hot pockets and drinking Mountain Dew in my parents’ basement.
For me, I’m just tired of chasing the “American dream”. Over the past few years, in particular, I’ve grown weary of, as Tyler Durden (or maybe it was George Carlin) put it in “working jobs we hate so we can buy (stuff) we don’t need, to impress people we don’t even like”. I’m tired of the rat race. I’m tired of materialism. I’m tired of collecting rooms and rooms full of STUFF so I can donate it to Goodwill every year.
I just want a simple life. I want to focus my life on the F; faith, family, friends, and fun. At the end of life, too many people regret the fact that they spent so much time working, and not enough time enjoying life. I just want to enjoy life. I want to spend quality time with the people that mean the most to me. I want to simplify my life. Too many commitments, too many appointments, too many meetings. Too much time spent on things that will not matter in the long term. Is this too much to ask?
Maybe I'm being naive. Maybe life is just too complicated. I'm inclined to believe life is only as complicated and noisy as we make it. When we decide to cut out the unnecessary and focus on what really matters, we can live a more happy, productive, and fulfilling life. Now the hard part is trying to figure out how to do that. This, is where my adventure will begin...