What Really Matters

We only have so much time. Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. Days slip into weeks and weeks slip into years and before you know it you look in the mirror and you don’t recognize yourself any more and realize you never got around to living your dream.

If we want to be happy and grow as a person, focusing on material acquisition will rob us of that pleasure. Shopping compulsively alienates us from ourselves and others. Constantly shopping for things, returning and exchanging them, finding somewhere to store them plus cleaning and maintaining them leaves little time or energy for the important people in our lives. The earth suffers too – we are ruining it with our garbage.

True wealth does not involve endless consumption of stuff. Embrace everyday life and the simple pleasures we can all enjoy. Embrace voluntary simplicity so you are free to focus on what really matters – spending time with loved ones, enjoying food and nature, doing something creative. Be frugal and you won’t have to spend so much time and life energy working to buy all that junk!

Appreciate and enjoy what you already have and question strongly any impulse to update, upgrade, renovate.