Daily goal: 105 words. Written: 395.
A nice picture on Facebook, a delicious pizza, a fast car, slow sex, a few thousand euros and, if possible, a lake house.
Give me that and I'll be happy!
. . .
Well, okay... Actually, I'm happy, even if I don't have all of the above. But it would be nice to have them, wouldn't it?
I have a question for you today: do we really need all this?
Do you need...
- Internet;
- Books;
- Schools;
- Alcohol;
- Trainers;
- Spotifay subscriptions;
- Birthday cakes;
- Christmas presents;
- Travel;
- Car;
- Paintings on the walls of your home;
- Computers;
- Pets;
- Sugar for tea;
- Art exhibitions;
- Dance;
- Telephones;
- And so on...?
Are these things, however different, really necessary? What would happen if they were not? What would happen if they were abandoned? Is it healthy to give them up?
* * *
I believe that we need only five things to stay alive as human beings. These are:
- Foodbecause without food, we will not have the strength to live;
- Sleepbecause our bodies need moments of rest;
- Heatbecause the only way to survive without clothes and a home is in Africa;
- Relationships, because without other people, we become beasts;
- And Activities, because we need activities to make life meaningful.
Everything else is just an add-on to life.
Off the internet we don't die because we can find plenty of alternatives. Giving up tasty food nor does anything change because it is not necessary. O having abandoned purchases we start to value the things we already have.
But if we gave up food, sleep, warmth, relationships or activities for good... then we would have a problem. Huge problems.
Isn't it?
"But all those extras are nice extras! Eating fruit, while not necessary, is healthy. And it's nice to observe and create art!"
Right. But I didn't say that all the other activities (and the million things and stuff) should necessarily be abandoned.
* * *
Welcome to the minimalist life of Cloudsylla. An online book that gets to the heart of the matter. And I'm not suggesting that you give up all the pleasures or things in life and become a Buddhist monk.
Instead, I suggest that you look at the most important parts of your life and put them all on top. Find the essence and focus on it. And leave the rest as ancillary details of life.
After all, there is a difference between a life in which:
A) We buy, we seek, we search, we crave all sorts of crap... without really knowing why we want it, and possibly forgetting what matters most;
b) We focus on the five most important parts of our lives, we remember to take care of them, and we only spend time and energy on everything else when we can afford it.
In the first case, it's a chaotic life among a multitude of choices. The second is a stable life of knowing and caring for what matters most.
...What do you prefer?
Having less,
Daniel