7
As I sit here handwriting this blog on paper for transfer into Blogger (computer issues). I think of the irony that this situation happens 7 days before my 35th birthday. In life we are conditioned, as Americans, to want more, to hoard, to believe bigger is better, most is best, but as I approach this birthday, I have come to life lesson 3,508,989. Simply put, simplicity has it's place. And for me in these last years it has been the the lesson I have needed to learn by living.
So much of my life had been about stuff, not in an unhealthy way, but in a undeniablly American way. In America it's all about more, Sam's clubs and Costco's are filled with people to prove it. Corporate America has convinced us the more we spend the more we save. Which results in having more than we can use. When I think back to our ancestors how little they lived with or even in most modern day countries, I think America is a machine! I'm talking a beast, just growing in consumption exponentially. Consumption Junction what's OUR dysfunction?
In the past 6 months I have come to realize that most of the stuff I had stored from when I moved out of my old house to an apartment 1/3 it's size (just so you know. I took the majority of everything in the house), was EXCESS. I only needed 1/3 of the things in storage in my new house ( the other 2/3 is sitting in my garage awaiting the mother of all garage sales). Crazy huh? Considering I'm back in a house roughly the same size. Logically, you would think everything would fit, but sadly it does not. In that realization I truly understand how much I have overcomplicated myself with things. Just things cause I thought I needed them.
I guess in a way I did need them. I needed them when I bought them. I needed them when they made me feel good that I could buy them. I realized I bought things because I liked them. I mean growing up the oldest of two in a single parent household getting what you, simply, liked was not an option. Just to keep things in perspective, my childhood was great I might not have gotten what I liked, but I did get what I needed, truly loved,wanted desperately, and could only truly NOT live without.
In the last year I have moved into a new space in life, an awakening somewhat. I realized the more I value the things I buy the better and simpler my life becomes. Liking something is simply not justification for purchasing something.
I have come to understand that the 5th pair of black shoes will do my family more good as money in a retirement, money market, or savings account earning interest than it will as a hand me down for some one, even one of them, or collecting dust until they are dusted off for their bi-monthly pairing with an equally as excessive outfit. And it is so liberating.
As I sit here 7 days before my 35th birthday I truly understand less is more and more is more at the same time. An oxymoronical ( I know that is not a word...at least I don't think it is) revelation that is completely clear to me. BALANCE... BALANCE... BALANCE
Balance in every aspect has become my mantra, and I think it will be my path to success. Just like I understand that I will never see the blue screen of death while writing on this pad of paper. I also realized with out this computer I never could have transcribed this messily handwritten blog into Blogger and shared my thoughts with you on the world wide web. It's a balance.
As I sit here 7 days before the big 3-5 feeling balanced writing my blog on paper until I can share this with you guys later in this quiet of the day , I know, more than ever, that balance is the key. And 7 is a Divine and Perfect number, so this must be right! And perfect and divine is exactly how I feel with 7 days left of being 34. I feel ready to take on the world and do the damn thing.
Be EZ,
OG
This blog was inspired while listening to New Amerykah, especially track 3, Me!
So much of my life had been about stuff, not in an unhealthy way, but in a undeniablly American way. In America it's all about more, Sam's clubs and Costco's are filled with people to prove it. Corporate America has convinced us the more we spend the more we save. Which results in having more than we can use. When I think back to our ancestors how little they lived with or even in most modern day countries, I think America is a machine! I'm talking a beast, just growing in consumption exponentially. Consumption Junction what's OUR dysfunction?
In the past 6 months I have come to realize that most of the stuff I had stored from when I moved out of my old house to an apartment 1/3 it's size (just so you know. I took the majority of everything in the house), was EXCESS. I only needed 1/3 of the things in storage in my new house ( the other 2/3 is sitting in my garage awaiting the mother of all garage sales). Crazy huh? Considering I'm back in a house roughly the same size. Logically, you would think everything would fit, but sadly it does not. In that realization I truly understand how much I have overcomplicated myself with things. Just things cause I thought I needed them.
I guess in a way I did need them. I needed them when I bought them. I needed them when they made me feel good that I could buy them. I realized I bought things because I liked them. I mean growing up the oldest of two in a single parent household getting what you, simply, liked was not an option. Just to keep things in perspective, my childhood was great I might not have gotten what I liked, but I did get what I needed, truly loved,wanted desperately, and could only truly NOT live without.
In the last year I have moved into a new space in life, an awakening somewhat. I realized the more I value the things I buy the better and simpler my life becomes. Liking something is simply not justification for purchasing something.
I have come to understand that the 5th pair of black shoes will do my family more good as money in a retirement, money market, or savings account earning interest than it will as a hand me down for some one, even one of them, or collecting dust until they are dusted off for their bi-monthly pairing with an equally as excessive outfit. And it is so liberating.
As I sit here 7 days before my 35th birthday I truly understand less is more and more is more at the same time. An oxymoronical ( I know that is not a word...at least I don't think it is) revelation that is completely clear to me. BALANCE... BALANCE... BALANCE
Balance in every aspect has become my mantra, and I think it will be my path to success. Just like I understand that I will never see the blue screen of death while writing on this pad of paper. I also realized with out this computer I never could have transcribed this messily handwritten blog into Blogger and shared my thoughts with you on the world wide web. It's a balance.
As I sit here 7 days before the big 3-5 feeling balanced writing my blog on paper until I can share this with you guys later in this quiet of the day , I know, more than ever, that balance is the key. And 7 is a Divine and Perfect number, so this must be right! And perfect and divine is exactly how I feel with 7 days left of being 34. I feel ready to take on the world and do the damn thing.
Be EZ,
OG
This blog was inspired while listening to New Amerykah, especially track 3, Me!
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