Quest for Sustainability

I keep a “to do” list on my computer desktop. It is a daily reminder of what I really need to be doing, what I could be doing, what I wish I could be doing, and future things I need to think about doing. It’s not stratified at all according to wants and needs, though it probably should be. In fact, much of it borders on the theme of “how to make more money in less time so I can play more often, all while eliminating as much waste as possible.” I recently began thinking about the level of attention (e.g., stress) that this underlying thought has in my life, and the “mindcycle” (so to speak) that fuels it. I realize this is not an earth-shattering concept; philosophers, scientists, environmentalists (e.g.,“hippies”), and many others have been contemplating thoughts like this (in part, at least) for centuries. And I think it (quest for cash) is really what drives people to get out of bed on a daily basis. Let me clarify: I’m not, and never really have been, driven by monetary gain or goals.

Personally, I came to the conclusion in the last 3 years that I can’t address life like most of my 30-40 something year old counterparts: those people who are considered, and most importantly consider themselves, relatively “successful” – in the generally accepted definition of that word. That is, they are: married, have kids, content in gated-community McMansion-style home ownership, have a combined 6-digit income, spend their evenings on a leather couch watching ‘whatever’ on their 60” flat screen TV, and take annual vacations to “anywhere elsewhere” (excuse me for a moment while I go outside to hang my laundry to dry; a luxury not afforded to those successful homeowners living in gated communities & in accordance with their HOA’s anti-white-trash regs!). Rather, over the last 3 years, I’ve learned that my quality of life is dictated by freedom: freedom to breathe clean air; freedom from bumper-to-bumper traffic; freedom to run, alone, without fear, along mountain and desert trails whenever I want; freedom to never have to lock my doors (day or night; I don’t even own a key to my house); freedom to have chickens clucking in my backyard; freedom to hang my laundry in the backyard to dry. These are all freedoms which have nothing to do, really, with money. But the freedoms I enjoy do have to do with time. I do want more freedom of time. And that’s just assuming that I am going to be granted many more years of life to enjoy that freedom of time (which is, a driver in itself: the retirement nest egg).

I want more freedom of time, and that is something that cannot be bought, yet, the equation translates into having more money with less time invested, to pay those necessary bills and to pay for those things in life that I really need. The solution for me, it seems, is having to sacrifice those freedoms I love for more money (by moving back to a bigger city to make a larger income) and saving for several years, and then leaving when that bank account seems big enough-as if there is any way to really know that for sure. That’s not an attractive option, so instead, I’ve been closely scrutinizing those things that I really “need” and determining that maybe, perhaps, those things that I really need I can get more easily on my own, and with my own creativity, and without paying much, if anything, to anyone else for them. Thus, my journey has begun, scrutinizing my way of living, and the waste that I create through consumption of foods, gasoline, “just stuff” and, particularly, in time.