Do I really need more stuff?

http://adventuresinvoluntarysimplicity.blogspot.com/

So.. This is a blog by a Harvard educated lawyer. This Harvard educated lawyer – did life as we all think we want it. Got a job at a high-powered corporation, made beaucoup money, got the super-nice house, the fancy suits, had the most beautiful women on his arm, the whole she-bangaroo [yea i said it].

But.. He decided/found/discovered that all this stuff/alcohol/fun(??) was not really fulfilling – so he quit the job, paid off the consumer debt and saved up enough money to live off the interest of what he saved. Now, he chases simplicity, peace, and what really makes him happy inside. Of course – its easy to write off his story as the exception [which it is] but …but..isn’t there a lesson here. Or maybe its just a lesson for me. Sometimes when I look at all the STUFF I have – I feel tethered. Tied down. Mentally burdened. And dont get it confused – I don’t have much – I’m still a broke college student. But I think I have much more than 90% of the world: A car, A computer (2), clothes, shoes, AND boxes of books.

So I decided: I’m going to look for ways to simplify my life, maybe not with the whole sell all my possessions schtick but by decreasing the ties that bind me to my stuff. I think giving money/stuff away is the best way to accomplish – So stay tuned as I try to pare down my life or at least not get fooled into thinking more = happier.

The less weight your carrying – the higher you can go.

Fly or Fall.

“Je arreter revant ces jours”

“I no longer dream these days” – Sad words from a recent friend…recently I was talking with a friend [in french] about life when she dropped these beautiful, melancholy words on me. I was shocked, hurt, and scared. I jumped up and yelled via cyberspace about how she should never give up on her dreams. I told her that it was never too late, that dreams deferred become like stones in moccasins, that she should hold tight to her dreams with all the ferocity she could muster, blah blah blah. Looking back at the conversation, I realized I was really passionate, but also a little bit afraid. Why? Because recently I’d been feeling and pondering the same things. I wondered if I had outgrown my dreams, if my dreams were still attainable, and if I should just junk em, and hit the blackboard again with a brand new piece of chalk. In retrospect my passion and vehemence was born of my own fear, and in convincing her, I was really persuading myself.

After realizing that I started to wonder ..what is the point of me holding on so tightly to my dreams? Whats the real benefit? Shouldn’t I just accept a life where I’ll make more than enough money, help people, and raise my family??? Shouldn’t that be enough? Aren’t I just being greedy?

Then I read this:
The easiest thing in the world is to settle — to accept work that we don’t hate too much, to find a mate with whom we have little in common except proximity and a shared sense of desperation, to close our eyes to the dangerous path of dreams and desires and tell ourselves that real people never do the things we yearn for anyway. If your community shares your dreams and ambitions and members within it have already done what you hope to do, it becomes easier to hold out. To hang on. To keep believing.

Keep Dreaming. Fly Or Fall