Twitter is such a wonderful source of information for catalyzing conversations. This post stems from a post linked to by someone on my Twitter follow list. I don’t know who posted it, I just saw the title, got thinking, and now you have this…
I think the idea of “living well with less” is terribly flawed.
First, it presupposes that you should have more. Perhaps even that you deserve, or are entitled to, more. I won’t get started on entitlement, but I don’t believe it to be a very useful mood.
Second, it brings forth the notion that you will be going through a time of sacrifice.
And, third, it when you believe you are in a state of crisis or sacrifice, a whole lot of other things begin to fall into place that support this belief. I’m not saying that some crises aren’t real. But what I am saying is that your beliefs create the context within which you view your life. That context defines what you can and can’t see, your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and memories.
Back to “living with less.”
This article would never be published in many other countries who have less, and have had less than the US and other similarly prosperous countries. Yet, here, we find it to be a novelty, inconvenience, and effort to live with prudence.
Wikipedia states that Prudence is the exercise of sound judgment in practical affairs.
To find an article about “living with less” to be useful, in and of itself, constitutes a lack of prudence. At the same time, finding an article like that to be useful, constitutes that the person does wish to produce change in their life.
Someone who is not already living with “sound judgment in practical affairs,” perhaps should be educating themselves on prudence, instead of sacrifices wrapped in a context of temporary and inconvenient change.
All is not lost here, however. Regardless of how you view your own economic situation, we are no doubtedly in a different situation from the recent past that catalyzes a change in thinking, and hopefully in future behavior. Some things have not, and will not change; such as structures of money, power, help, value, etc.
If you feel you must read articles on “Living well with less,” take some time to really think about what that means. Ask yourself why you’re reading that information, why you care, and what outcome you genuinely desire from it. Then, ask yourself if you wish to make that change temporarily, or permanently. If it’s permanent, ask yourself if that’s how you should be educating yourself, or if there is a more powerful context from which to view and educate yourself on the situation.
If you’re prudent to begin with, you don’t need help learning “how to live well with less.” You already live well, and you already have what you have.