She had been obsessing for about a year. One day, after a grueling, spirit squelching adventure at work, she curled up on her plush overstuffed couch with a mellow cabernet and the latest issue of Ladies Home Journal. Okay, not exactly “happening”, but it was what she wanted after a 14 hour day and an increased bitterness towards the rest of humanity. There on the Table of Contents, page 25, was a piece that jump right off the page and into her soul: “Free at Last: Breaking Loose from the Chains of Materialism”. The article was about living light and leaving behind a small footprint, getting rid of the big house and the two expensive cars that you can‘t park in the garage anyway. There was a blurb in there about how happiness can only be measured by money to a certain point: enough to cover the needs with a little for saving. After a yearly income of about $50,000, happiness levels stabilized and dropped.
She nodded sympathetically. She knew all about living to work rather that working to live. She knew her happiness quotient plunged like a boulder the longer she was at her job and the more successful she became. She had less time to enjoy others, hobbies, the present moments. She was lacking in quality, surrounded by quantity.
In the typical anal-retentive, workaholic fashion that got her where she was today, she researched far and wide about living simply and cheaply. After reading the blogs, websites and articles what she discovered was this type of life excited her, renewed her energy and zest of life. It motivated her to…..become lazy. Work less. Buy less. Need less.
She started gently, parting with extravagances. Who really needs seven Coach purses? Does her skin really require Arbonne or was Oil of Olay good enough? She moved to bigger items: Cuisinart kitchen gadgets, cutting edge electronics, Pottery Barn furniture. Her townhome resembled one that had been recently burglarized: a couch facing a TV-less wall, wires sticking out where a sound system had once been.
But, as she owned less, she felt freer. The big monkey was slowly climbing off her back, knowing its ride was almost over.
Finally it was time to axe The Big Two: job and townhome. By now she had a new frame of mind. It didn’t seem like she was trying on a new life. She was living it like a pro.
Fast forward to today. She’s just handed over her keys to the realtor and given a last look to the place she has called home for the last 12 years; her former pride and joy, a three level brick townhouse with a one car garage and two decks overlooking a nature preserve. Her job in the legal department was a distant memory. It was a beautiful summer day; a cloudless sky, warm sun, gentle breeze. It was the perfect day for an unencumbered life and hers was finally about to start at the age of 46. She fastened back her long blond hair, slipped on a sleek dark purple helmet and she rode off on her Harley.
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