Howdy Beehaw, I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately and wanted to share some thoughts. I’ve been having these strange little epiphanies that many things today just don’t seem to fit right. Like at least in the US, everyone is working so hard just to get to this fictitious level of “success” that finally means “you’ve made it,” i.e. finally making enough income to have a decent work/life balance. But it from what I see, often people need to take out a large school loan to do that, pay it off seemingly forever, and there never seems to be a real point of “made it.”
I took a vacation to much more relaxed, beachside spot and saw how the locals were living. Basically off the grid, get fruit at the little market, fix things or trade things. Everyone seem to have this collectivism that felt really connected. No one was money rich, but everyone had this peace about them that almost felt fake to me at first. And then I went down this whole rabbit hole of “why do I need money anyway?”
I know there are certain things life that just costs money, but I’m coming to realize that I don’t think I need as much as I previously anticipated. The people that are “living” to me aren’t just enduring and saving for most of their life so they can sort of relax during retirement, they’re doing real things with people that make them happy.
On a somewhat similar note, I wanted a hobby/activity that did not involve screens and I could continually learn. I ended up picking up hand tool woodworking and feel pretty nice to simplify a bit and get a little creative. I listened to a few podcasts that discussed the industrial era transition and the focus to “more efficient and lower costs,” which took some of the feel away from many things.
The more I think about it, the more I think that industrial shift was not entirely beneficial. The hand tool working podcast said they’re “finding the ‘new’ old ways of living.” And that there is this natural desire for human connection. Restaurants have fake wood marks in the paneling to feel more authentic. Before machined things, there was more intention that went into goods.
Anyway, in my sea of thoughts about enhancing human connection and intention, I thought about Beehaw. After the whole Reddit-geddon searching for an online community, I noticed that the communities here are respectful, open, and actually making human connections. It felt like a breath of fresh air. And I just want to say that I appreciate y’all.
Since high school I always felt hobbies keep you grounded and out of trouble and most people don’t have any it’s weird to me. I also had a realization about living life simpler after visiting Brazil,I know I didn’t get to see a true image because I was relaxed and on vacation but it felt everyone was much more cheerful and carefree
That must have been a cool experience. There was/is an r/iwantout that was nice to get some local experience of some expats. I’m sure every place has its pros and cons. Id love to visit more places and get a feel for the culture and lifestyles.
But I agree, making time for just doing something that give you that spark of joy is pretty important. It seems too easy to get sucked into the cycle of bills, life tasks, credit, etc. Does anyone think of that on their deathbed? From I gather, people think of the important people and experiences they have had.
yeah I had a little taste of that when my friend gave me some mushrooms to try, everything was going great until it got to be too much and I wanted it out of me, then I couldnt so I figure the best thing to do is to just try and go to sleep. man it was the worst night of my life, tossing and turning and thinking way too much, I got to a point where I believed it was my last night alive, so I got my dogs and made them come to bed with me because I didnt want to die alone. thats when I finally went into like a trance and just realized that I had been quietly going through my midlife crisis I guess thinking about mortality and how death is going to happen even thought I never really cared about it before. the morning after i realized how much i enjoyed the little moments like waking up in the morning and cracking the window because it had some moisture knowing it was because of the warmth of our home and just making coffee and looking out the window. of course that feeling has faded a bit, I went back to some usual habits like playing video games instead of going out for walks like I said at the time but the idea is still there, just enjoying life’s basic things and trying to be outdoors more instead of building a better computer or what cool thing I could do with my phone
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There is a really cool motivational speaker that talked about how people have the idea that “success will lead to happiness,” but it’s actually the opposite, “happiness fuels success.” That doesn’t necessarily mean more money, but he said people that can find happiness around them instead of waiting for it are more fufilled. What I took away is that it’s good practice to dig deep and think about the good things in our lives instead of waiting for X to happen to be happy. It’s difficult to explain, but I think he means not to put the control of our fulfillment with an external factor (job, money, etc). I think where people get sucked in is a little success gives you that high for a while, until they need to find another success, and keep needing to fuel that happiness machine.
