No, I’m not talking about the amazing
family who were our neighbors for a few years.
Keeping up with the Joneses.
Sadly for most of us the standard
measure for success has become the $. How much money we can make and what we do
with it. Our culture has led us to believe that more is better. That bigger is
better. In order to be viewed as successful we need to have more.
Our lives have been planned out and
geared towards the goal of making it big and being successful. From a very
young age we are shown the path. We’re told what to do and what not to do. In
junior and senior high school the insanity begins. If you want to be successful
wear these clothes, cut your hair like this, talk this way, make these friends,
and join these clubs. And because that’s not already enough we are told it’s
high time we start thinking about we want to do with our lives.
Which career will get you the highest paying
job? What is the most impressive school for this field? What are their
admission requirements? Did you score high enough on the standardized
test? Are you good enough?
This is “The Script”
Like most people I bought into it. I’ve
done what we are all expected to do. Go to school (kindof), start a career, get
married, have kids, buy things….
I was on the right track, moving up in
“important” roles in the company. Part of my job description was sitting in
pointless meeting after meeting where nothing was accomplished and against the
grain thinking was often smothered. I would just sit there staring at the wall
or out the window thinking “how did I get here?!?! Why am I doing this?!?!”
I had been spending a lot of time reading
books about success and how got achieve it. How to do more of the work you don’t enjoy so you can have more $ so you can buy more of the things that don’t really
need or care about. It all seemed so fake and meaningless!
Why did I put myself through this?
Because it was the “right thing to do”. It was in the script.
Another line in this script reads “when
you become more successful, you upgrade”
Time for a newer bigger house. At the
time we were a family of 3 living in 2,500 square feet. More than enough space
for our family. But our stuff had outgrown it and we were feeling cramped. We didn’t
have to justify the decision, society had done that for us. Remember, We were
moving up in life. I had a great job and we were making pretty decent $, my
family was growing, and on top of that we were getting a killer deal on the
real estate. We knew it was way more space than we needed but our needs would
change over time and we would grow into it. It’s a great investment for our
future, right? We deserve it, right?
About the time we pulled the trigger
to build this home I moved into a new role at work. My job was to improve and
simplify manufacturing and office processes. To observe and identify aspects of
a process that don’t add real value to the product and work to reduce or
eliminate it.
So much of what I was learning and doing applied to life!
So much of what I was learning and doing applied to life!
I started reading different books and learning
new things. The more I got into it the more I realized, hey, this applies to
life! We spend so much time focusing on things that just don’t matter, things
that don’t add real value or enrich our lives.
I
began to pay more attention to the people I knew who were doing incredible
things with their lives. These people are
entrepreneurs, outdoor enthusiasts, artists, activists, educators, volunteers,
travelers, parents and grandparents. They have
this non-conformist attitude toward the script. They love life and are actively
engaged in the pursuit of things they were passionate about. They value their relationships and experiences over money
and possessions.
Something I noticed about these amazing people was that most of
them lived very simply. Regardless of their financial status they didn’t carry a
lot of baggage in this life. They didn’t subscribe to the idea that bigger is
better. They were intrinsically motivated to live.
I wanted it!
To be continued….
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