Stuff = Missing Out on Our Potential in Life
This afternoon, I paid the small price of $5 and purchased/downloaded the brand new documentary, I'm Fine, Thanks!, which is fairly well known in the personal finance community, since many of us know of Adam Baker from Man vs. Debt, who was heavily involved in its creation. I have to say that it was good watch. And definitely very professionally done. Its main goal, I'm assuming, of hitting home and tugging at people's hearts, was successful. It tugged at my heart. It got me thinking, much more seriously than normal, about questioning my situation and my path. Am I living my dreams? Or am I playing it safe and letting fear hold me down to life I'm not enjoying. These are deep questions that aren't easily answered.
I got a couple things going on in my life that relate to this topic:
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I've realized that stuff doesn't bring me happiness and therefore, a crazy expensive lifestyle isn't appealing to me.
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I've had my financial act together for a few years now, which has me going in the direction of my dreams.
It's funny how finances worked their way into this movie, which was supposed to be about achieving our dreams and pursuing our passion. Why would money be a part of it? Hmm... Oh yes, because money is woven into every single part of our life. It affects what we do with our lives. I repeat. Money affects what we do with our lives. Without money, we don't have control of what we do with our lives. I mean sure, we can pick our work/career track to some extent. But the lack of money has us essentially begging for employment. It is only when we have significant money that we can start making our own decisions. Money is crazy intertwined in our life's work, decisions and time. It can be both a good thing and bad thing.
There was a couple in the movie that both hated their jobs. They spoke about it like it was absolutely miserable and I believe them. Yuck.. Know why they felt trapped? Because they had a nice, big house that required a big fat payment every month. Was the house worth their misery? They decided that it wasn't, sold it and quit living in misery.
Their situation is very widespread in this country today. Most of us are stuck spending almost all our time doing something we hate because we have all this overhead like a nice big house and fancy cars. By owning these things, we sacrifice our entire life. I think it's time we question this strategy. Is it really working? Is it really worth buying all this crap so that we can be trapped? Being trapped causes us to be scared to take the leap into pursuing our real dreams. It's really sad, honestly.
Sure, my life isn't so bad if you look at many people's lives out there. So I shouldn't say much right? No, it's not terrible, but I have dreams and passions that I'm nowhere near even thinking about doing. I think it's time I do a lot more thinking about them. Here's a list of some of my dreams and passions:
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I want to start my own business where I do what I love and do something that adds value to this world that I believe in.
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Travel. I want to do more road tripping. I want to sleep under the stars in a tent, hike in the scenic backwoods, climb mountains, swim in pristine rivers/lakes, lay on the beach, surf in the pacific. I want to experience the beauty of this country/world. I want to watch the sunset a lot more with a backdrop of beautiful scenery while taking in the fresh, evening air.
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I want to spend time taking pictures while doing the things above. I love outdoor/landscape photography, but never do it.
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I want to spend more time doing hobbies that I enjoy and pick up many, many new ones, some indoor and some outdoor
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I want to sleep in more, live simpler days and be more minimalistic.
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I want to be healthy. That means eating healthy, home cooked meals, exercising more, getting plenty of sleep, rest, quiet time, alone time and prayer time.
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I want to be with those that I love, my family and friends, a heck of a lot more.
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I want to get control of my time. Achieve time freedom. Achieve time independence. I want to dictate my time and decide how I spend it. It's all I have. Just a bunch of years.
Pretty simple, huh? I was tempted to put some "stuff" in there. Actually, never mind, No, I wasn't. Whether I pursue my dreams while living in a bus that was converted into a home like one family in the movie or in a "house on wheels" (a home built on a large trailer) like another family, I don't care. My values are changing and I'm not sure if I'll ever be the same. I'm just not wanting the "American Dream" so much anymore. I just don't see its appeal. I view it as soul sucking. I see pain in a future of living that way.
So, thanks creators of I'm Fine, Thanks!. Good job on creating something that questions the normal lifestyle. You're spot on. It is something that needs to be questioned. Naw, I take that back. The "American Dream" is something that needs to be thrown out. It's not good for us. Stuff = slavery. Stuff = misery. Stuff = missing out on our potential in life.
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13 Comments
- November 11, 2012 at 9:12 PM
Good review. Makes me want to buy it and I just might do that! I bet you've already been reading, but if you haven't make sure to check out Mr Money Mustache. If you haven't yet, you'll love him.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:November 11, 2012 at 9:23 PM
Hi Lance. Yes, go buy that movie. It's definitely worth the 5 bucks. And of course, I've been reading the heck out of Mr. Money Mustache. Good stuff!
- leslie says:November 12, 2012 at 10:39 AM
Never heard of the film before. I guess I can get a gist of what it is about from your post but the website does not tell you a thing about the content of the movie at all!
- Peter says:November 12, 2012 at 11:55 AM
I bought the film a while ago when it was on Kickstarter, and promptly forgot to watch it. Thanks for the reminder, I'll have to put it on my tablet later tonight. Hey, maybe we'll have to get together a landscape photography group sometime too!
- Budget & the Beach says:November 12, 2012 at 1:48 PM
I might be the rare exception to say I think passion and your work is overrated. OK, OK, there are people who absolutely love what they do. I think it's pretty rare. The opposite of course is people who hate their jobs so much they are physically and/or mentally sick. That's no bueno. But most people are fairly content, and I don't think that is such a bad thing. If you make a decent living and you can go to work each day and feel content, I think you've achieved something, because it's possible to pursue your passion as a hobby. I mean I LOVE playing beach volleyball. I'm die hard passionate about it, but I'm 42, 5'4, and only started playing five years ago. I'm NEVER going to be a pro beach volleyball player. Anyway, I think it's just something to chew on...
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:November 12, 2012 at 5:49 PM
Great points and I agree, to some extent, that being fairly happy and content while making a living is not a terrible thing. However, when you set crazy high goals to be done with it all early in life and make them, I think that's much better. It's a shame when you are less than content, and I think it happens pretty often for almost all of us. Having the option to move on and not having to worry about how you're going to survive financially if you do it is pretty darn awesome. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. :)
- krantcents says:November 12, 2012 at 3:48 PM
Stuff isn't so bad! Just like some super high calorie food is not bad. It has to be in moderation and keeping spending within your means.
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:November 12, 2012 at 5:51 PM
Good points. Making a conscious decision to get some "stuff" after carefully calculating what impact it will have on your life and your future is perfectly fine. It's when we're told by the world that we need this stuff and that we'll always be working full time until we're 80 because we just have to, is when it gets to be bad news.
- John@MoneyPrinciple says:November 16, 2012 at 5:36 AM
Maybe it isn't the ambition that has changed but the dream. The American Dream is marketing hype sold to a lot of people by Hollywood, government and the like to people from elsewhere. A fresh start to your antecedents is no longer relevent to the present generation - maybe many generations down the line from the original frontiers men and women. It's just that the dream has changed. Now, having seen the imperfections of the 40 year job plan and wondering whether we will be able to retire, can we afford healthcare, can we send our kids to college, the new dream is to become independent of needs, buy an RV or whatever and enjoy life. That's a great dream too - one that poverty stricken people in Africa, India and even China will also sign up to! It is of course possible that the nomadic lifestyle does not suit everyone and some will come back, sell the RV that now has half a million miles on the clock and yearn for stability, health care, schools and whatever.... Who knows?
- R J Rogers says:November 25, 2012 at 6:24 PM
Just watched the movie last night. My daughter helped fund it, so our family had a personal interest in it. Yeah, the STUFF, the STUFF is what is killing our society. We sacrifice relationships to buy stuff that we'll wear out and throw away, or need to rent a storage place for it all. I'm on a selling spree, getting rid of anything we haven't used in the last 2 years; then we'll move on to anything we haven't used in the last year. Then....?
- Kelly S. says:April 15, 2014 at 12:33 PM
I'll have to check out this docufilm. It sounds like the antithesis of this other docufilm Ive been meaning to check out, "queen of versailles" - have you seen it? It would probably make us all throw up....
- Kraig @ Young Cheap Living says:April 15, 2014 at 12:50 PM
Kelly, No, I have not seen that one. I'll look into it. Wait, I don't really want to feel like throwing up, so maybe I shouldn't. Haha.
