Discardia_ More Life, Less Stuff - Dinah Sanders [91]
Enjoy what you've got
Maybe tonight's a good night to stay home, make some dinner from ingredients you already have or heat up some leftovers, watch the movie that's been sitting around, read a book off that stack in the corner, or play a favorite old game that's been gathering dust. Without spending, you can have a really nice time and remind yourself what is good about your life. Consider how you can increase your opportunities to lounge on porches and by crackling fireplaces. Experiences are often a better investment than objects.
When you do spend, target it toward what brings you the greatest returns. What gives you pleasure disproportionate to its cost? Enjoy that more often. Hate cleaning but love to cook? Hire a maid service, enjoy the freedom from some chores that you hate, and offset the cost by eating out less and making more great meals in your nice clean kitchen.
Love city life, especially dining out, but hate your long commutes from the suburbs? Move to a little apartment or condo in a great neighborhood nearer to work and ditch the car. You can make much more enjoyable use of the hundreds of dollars you’ve been spending on gas, car payments, insurance, maintenance, parking, and tickets.
With a magic wand, what would you eliminate from your life (e.g., housework or driving in traffic) and what would you add (e.g., culinary adventures or convenient nightlife)? Don’t assume that it’s impossible. Start brainstorming about all the ways you can trade the bad for the good.
Symptom #36: Boredom, Lethargy, Apathy
Solution #36: Set Aside Your Short Attention Span
I don’t know what people do who don’t do anything!
—Mary Sanders, my grandmother
Set yourself free from self-inflicted traps
Are you bored and lethargic? Sometimes it's a retreat from stress elsewhere in your life; sometimes it's frustration causing you to give up and be a lump. Boredom is definitely a trap you build yourself, and it can be the easiest to escape.
The cure for boredom is to stop doing that kind of “doing nothing” where your mind isn't still. Turn off the TV. Cover it up and pretend that you don't have one. Don't turn on the computer if your form of ennui involves mindless surfing and evenings lost to unsatisfying chats. Make something. Write a letter (you know, on paper!). Spend time with someone old and ask them to tell you about their favorite things to do when they were in their teens. Learn to cook. Reconnect with one longtime friend every day for a week. Keep yourself from wasting time in the unfulfilling ways that have become a habit and remember that you have good options.
Stretch your mind
Discard the illusion that you can’t keep yourself amused with just your mind. If you’re out of practice, start building your wool-gathering muscle. Slow down and think. Build dreams. Follow a complex trail of ideas through its twists and turns. Examine your assumptions. Imagine alternatives.
Set aside your short attention span
Sometimes a thing takes longer. Sometimes you need to mull it over for a while. What have you been giving less attention than it deserves? Stop rushing around; slow down and focus. If the goal in your life is not to have read as many blog posts and flipped through as many magazines and watched as many shows as time and caffeine allow—and I certainly hope it is not—then what do you want to have done with yourself? On what would you like to be looking back at the end of this year? Go do some of that.
As author Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
Re-examine your real bottom line
Have you been living as though the acquisition of stuff was your primary goal? If so, what kind of life is that approach giving you? Most of the rest of the world gets by on less than you can imagine.
Thanks to a lucky business trip I had the opportunity to visit