Community Question: Are You Happy With What You’ve Given Up?
One of my friends recently brought up an issue so many people have these days:
“How on earth,” she asked me one night, “do you afford to eat organic and grass-fed and make your own skincare stuff out of all these essential oils? I couldn’t possibly afford that.”
And, to my surprise, my answer was “priorities.”
As the conversation, and glasses of wine, went on, she lamented on how much she wanted to start eating more healthily, but she just didn’t think she had the money for it. The more we talked, the more she pointed out how expensive her cell phone and cable bills were. And how she loved to go out to eat twice a week. And she and her husband had two car payments, along with the expensive of dinner-and-a-movie nights twice a month.
You can see the quandary, right?
She was aghast at the choices I’ve made – a $30-a-month cell phone plan that didn’t include a smart phone, the fact that I hadn’t bought any new clothes in the last six months, that I don’t go out to eat more than once a month, and that I didn’t have a car. “Don’t you feel like you’re missing out on SO MUCH? Just so you can eat healthy and buy these things for your skin and your blog?”
The Weekend Existential Crisis: Why Are We Doing This?
The existential crisis rears its head every once in a while.
The one where I get really lost in wondering why we’re doing what we’re doing. What’s the point of being crunchy? Are we looking backward instead of forward? Is this impeding “progress?”
The answer to the latter question, on many levels, is “yes.” Yes, what we’re doing is impeding progress, in the way progress is currently defined. What we need – or what I need maybe – is a redefinition of “progress.”
Tell me if I’m wrong, but for the last fifty decades (or more), the concept of progress was intimately tied to wealth, leisure, and a thorough extrication of human beings from the processes that keep them healthy and alive.
Succeeding in life is making money eight or more hours a day via technology or manufacturing in order to buy the things that other people make that keep us living (and thriving, if your definition of thriving is buying more things). Any spare time is spent playing video games, driving our kids to practices and games, going out drinking, watching television, and shopping for sport. Progress is developing new technology and chemical compounds and pharmaceuticals that make our deeper existence easier to ignore.
Fall Through the Ghost
This book has me terrified. I’m not exaggerating.
I keep telling myself, “More people read the blog you post to several times a week than will ever read this book.”
Like that’s supposed to make me feel better.
It doesn’t. Because, every time I write and publish a blog post, I am terrified. Will anyone like it? Did I say something stupid? How many people will unsubscribe because I missed a typo? What if I offend people? No one’s going to like it. Don’t hit publish … don’t hit publish … don’t hit … CRAP! I just hit publish.
This clarity came tonight, though, when I was contemplating the release of the book. All those fears? I’ve tried to pretend they don’t exist. I panic, hit publish, and then block it all out until the next time.
Instead, I should be learning from them. What do they teach me about myself? (Say, maybe that I still worry too much what other people think of me? Hmmm? Or that I don’t trust in my own abilities? Uh-huh.) How can I let them disappear forever?
Time to Play: What’s in YOUR Soap?
Ladies and gentleman, it’s time to play …
WHAT’S IN YOUR SOAP?
The winner of today’s game will receive $100,000 and a trip to the finals for a chance to win … a chicken! (The $100,000 is imaginary and the chicken is a metaphor for a deep sense of gratification.)
Okay, ready?
If your soap says “Pure Castile” what does it contain?
Food For Your Soul: Throw Away That Sad Magnet!
A couple of days ago, I started to notice that I was in a funk.
Like, really in a funk.
Cranky. Angry. Defensive. Hopeless. Lost.
F.U.N.K.
Then, in one morning, several people pointed out that I’ve been less than positive for quite some time. That they were worried about me.
See, I’m not particularly hard-wired to be positive. It’s something I have to work at. It’s something I have to remember to be sometimes.
Sometimes I’m just poopy because I forget to wake up and smile. And then I forget to eat breakfast and smile. And then I just forget to smile.
But this time … this I could trace back.
Here’s the story of The Sad Magnet. I hope you enjoy. It took me my crack design team a good part of 3 hours to come up with the illustrations.
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Crunchy Shopping!
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