One of the hardest, yet most useful lessons I’ve learned in the past couple years is that less really is more. When you’re a kid, you want all of the shiny toys… there is no such thing as too much icing on the cake, even though you know it’s going to make you crazy and sick. It’s not possible to have enough friends or for the music to be too loud. Obviously some people never grow out of this way of excess. And that’s okay for them- if it works.
It doesn’t for me.
Yeah, I’m still trying to streamline my life in many ways. It’s not easy to be okay with less when you’ve idealized the other side of things for so long. We also live in a world where every day “more” is cultivated and sold and impressed upon us constantly. We’re taught from a very young age that it’s important to have things: my blanket, my binky. And to some extent, possession over other human beings is encouraged: my mommy. As adults, we’re pushed to get the job that makes the most money, so we can afford nice stuff and be successful (whatever that means!).
So yes, it’s hard to realize and then further consciously battle all the time, this sense of more, more, more. And yes, there are certain areas where this excess is great, like art… you can never create too much art. But I’m glad that I finally have awakened enough to now know that even though it’s lonely sometimes, it’s probably a lot healthier for me to not have quite so many people in my every day life… it’s most likely easier for me to not own so many pairs of shoes. Like I said, I know cutting down on many levels is not for some people and I’m not knocking that at all. I just know for myself, it seems like the more I have in life… the more “my” owns me. And it’s kind of freeing without so much of that.
xoxo, R.
(Source: rawsugar)
