Living above my means

09 Sunday Apr 2017

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fulfilled, full life, giving, grateful, happiness, helping others, live with less, money, Morocco, peace, simplicity, spending, stuff, thanks, tranquility, travel, wealth

I live above my means. Way above.

I eat and throw away more food than I need each day. I spend more money than I need to each day. I think of myself more than I need to each day. I worry about my future (and other things) more than I want to each day. It’s all too much.

Friends in Morocco tell me that as long as they have enough to get by each day, that’s all they need. These friends also take care of others, helping and giving as they can. And that ends up being a lot and often. It inspires me.

I spin and toil each day worrying about what to do next, how to live my dream, how to make more money, how to work harder to accomplish the goals set for me by others. It drains me.

I already have more than the majority of the rest of the world. How much more do I really need?

I want to live below my means. I want to live a life with less, with fewer, with smaller. A life focusing on today, on others, and a life of enough.

Life’s too long…

08 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by seejanesblog in Observations

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achievement, dull blade, enjoyment of life, enthusiasm for life, happiness, joi de vivre, joy, sales job, travel, treadmill

…to not do at least some of the things you really want to do.

Working full time can be draining. Especially in sales where it seems we’re always chasing/being chased by numbers. Good, but never quite good enough with this product line or that product line. Good, but not as good as last year. Good, but next year more is expected. Always room for improvement. While that constant treadmill of achievement is what drives me to be better and better, it does wear a person out. The blade gets dull.

To sharpen my blade, I travel. I have to. There’s nothing else in life that gives me the burst of life, the energy, or the enthusiasm that travel gives.

People tell me all the time they wish they could travel like I do. They think I have unlimited amounts of time to dedicate to it. I don’t; I just save up every ounce of vacation for it. And if it’s a priority, you’ll do it. As a single woman with no children, working hard year after year, travel’s what I choose to spend my time and money on. And it’s what has helped me become who I am intended to be.

I’m not sure if joi de vivre is what drives me to travel or if travel gives me my joi de vivre, but I know I’m happiest traveling through life. I have an exuberant enjoyment of life!

What I know for sure

06 Monday May 2013

Posted by seejanesblog in Observations

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contentment, fear, happiness, joy, life, Morocco, outlook, peace, travel

People frequently talk about how bad the world is/or has gotten; how horrible human beings are. I don’t buy that. Not at all. Reading back through history it seems people always think the world is worse in their time than it was in a previous time. Or they think they don’t want to raise their kids in ‘these times’. Again, I beg to differ.

While I’m not naive to problems and issues in the world, I don’t think people are bad. Nor do I think the world is overall a scary place. If it was there’d be far more horrible things occurring to each of us every day. There’d be far more scary days than non-scary days. And there just aren’t, for most of us. Sometimes I think people are most comfortable operating from a place of fear or a place of can’t. I can’t travel because it’s scary. I can’t go there because I could get hurt. I can’t leave because something might happen. I’m not going to try X because I might not succeed. I think our minds limit or stop many of us from trying new or unfamiliar things. And that includes traveling.

I believe we are all similar around the world, trying to live our lives in a way consistent with what we believe, to live happily, to connect with others, and to love those closest to us. Everywhere in the world I have seen that. I think that’s one of the main reasons I travel. It’s important for me to see how we are all similar no matter where we reside or what we do everyday in life.