In today's world, most of society often over complicates every single aspect of our lives. People are always in such a rush they never have a chance to stop for a second and take a deep breath. It's so bad that when we do actually try and rest for awhile we can almost never truly enjoy it, for interruptions and worries continually plague us. When is the last time you actually relaxed without worries, fears, or interruptions? If you're like most people you probably cannot even the recall when this occurred. Always being in a rush and never having the chance to slow down is bad for your health, your mind, and your life. It may not seem like you have a choice, however, everyone does. The majority of people just never figure out how to change their lives accordingly, thus a slower and more fulfilling life remains elusive. People are always striving for a change, but it's exceedingly rare that they fully achieve it. As Thoreau once said "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." Essentially, everyone has goals and dreams, but they never transform them into reality; instead they sit back quietly while opportunities disappear.
I strongly suggest everyone who wants to improve their life in any way, shape, or form to read Henry David Thoreau's Walden. This book shows how to slow down and get the most out of life while it's still available, for our time here on earth is extremely limited. The way in which an individual lives his life shows his mindset about the world around him. Those who constantly rush and pass things by, without giving them as much as a second glance, take life for granted and do not appreciate the wonders that surround us. On the other hand, the man who slows down and stops to look at even the most seemingly insignificant things, receives a better understanding of the ubiquitous blessings which span the globe. A person who can receive satisfaction from watching an Autumn leaf flutter around in the wind is a thousand times as rich as one who watches a movie for a transitory enjoyment. What I'm getting at here is that men need to simplify their lives; we often feel that in order to have well spent life we must buy or rely on technology to get the most out of it. But alas, it's the complete opposite! Humans throughout history have invented sophisticated pieces of technology to improve the quality of our lives, and while this does make many aspects easier, for the most part it complicates issues to the extreme. We rely on these tools far too much. Basically, "men have become the tools of their tools." For what would happen, if God forbid, the power went out for an extended period of time. Almost everyone would become lost and society would eventually crumble, in essence we wouldn't know what to do. While technology and man made items do help us, it also gives us the survivability of an infant if we were to lose it one day.
We all need to learn how to simplify and do the same amount with less. Instead of surfing the web, pick up a book and read. And why drive to the store when we can walk to it in five minutes? Situations such as these present themselves to us each and every day and we ignore the simpler approach. While it may appear that driving to the store is so much easier than walking, in reality it's not. For in order to do this we must learn how to drive, get a driver's license, buy a car, buy car insurance, and finally constantly have to fill the car with gas. It seems like driving saves us from a lot of headaches, but in the long run we expend enormous amounts of energy, effort, and time in order to save but minutes. Why waste hours to save minutes? It just doesn't make sense. The majority of the population never looks at it this way though. The world is like a magician performing a magic trick, while the audience looks at one hand they ignore the one that's doing the work and hiding everything right in front of their faces. We need to wake up and start seeing what's hidden all around us; we complicate everything so much that we miss the important parts of life that are staring us down. Once we begin to simplify, all the secrets that are unseen will be revealed.
"As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness."
Another problem with society that Thoreau discovered was that a large portion of Americans live their lives as consumers. In order to achieve happiness and self fulfillment people acquire items that they think will improve their lives in someway. However, this lifestyle is flawed; for the amount of belongings we own is in direct proportion to how much we are weighed down by them. Who really needs to live in a Mcmansion? And how many of us require a brand new car that costs over a $100,000? We absolutely do not need them under any circumstance, but those who can afford them feel a compulsion to buy. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should. A large house is not only a hindrance to ourselves but to the environment as well, they just aren't sustainable. The heating alone costs a fortune, and in order to successfully keep it a stable temperature massive amounts of greenhouse gases are produced. Moreover, why spend so much on a house or a car that keeps us working until we're old and feeble. I propose that we buy small houses and used cars, so instead of trying to pay them off with constant work we as free individuals can live a full and productive life that gets the most of everything. It's not hard to change, but keeping it requires an unmeasurable amount of strength, perseverance, and above all an unwavering courage.
"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it."
Most of society also fails to notice that their work habits are flawed as well. From an early age each of us is conditioned to excel and compete in every aspect of our lives. If an individual doesn't try and best an "opponent" they are more times than not, considered a failure. Why is it necessary to constantly strive to beat others and achieve a status that really doesn't mean anything at all. The most eloquent and prestigious title doesn't change a person, all it does is alter our perceptions. In the long run it only proves to be superfluous and vain. Each of us needs to learn a bit of humility and return back down to earth. This highly competitive world we live in once again contributes to the complexity that wraps around us almost to strangulation. Have you ever wondered why the majority of the population works on average around 50 weeks a year? This is a staggering amount of time to devote to one objective; it wastes our lives. Two or three weeks of vacation time a year is a ridiculously minor amount of true life. If we simplify things, we can roughly work a third of this time and still manage to live comfortably. But this is only possible if we humble ourselves enough so we can stop usurping things from others. We all just need to slow down some and not worry about others beating us in everything. Is it really necessary to waste the prime years of our lives? If you work 50 weeks out of a year until it's time for retirement there's not going to be much to look forward to. Why try to experience the sublimity of life when you can't enjoy it fully? Experience new beginnings now while you're young and full of fire, not when your 70 and knocking at death's door. Don't save it, for it might not be there in the future. Perception in the key to the universe; once we begin looking at these issues in a different light then maybe each of us can finally "suck out all the marrow of life."
"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears he beat of a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms." -Henry David Thoreau
