The Detritus of Daydreams and Good Intentions

I spend a lot of time on the road. I see a lot of For Sale signs on boats, ATVs, RVs, and jet skis. I wonder why those people bought all that shit in the first place.

People buy too much shit. They take up hobbies that require the purchase of various forms of equipment. This is fine if they actually pursued those hobbies. But they don't. The three biggest hobbies in America are playing video games surfing the internet, and watching television. Their money would be better spent on a quality television set. Instead, they spend their money on boats, campers, motorcycles, tents, backpacks, mountain bikes, golf clubs, etc., that consume closet space, garage space, and rental space. That is a lot of wasted space and money.

I understand the impulses behind these purchases and the accumulation. It is all daydreams and good intentions. People think the good life consists of x, so they buy y and end up with y for sale on their front lawns. This is because x:

-Takes time they don't have
-Takes energy they don't have
-Is never as much fun as what you will find on a screen

The best thing people can do is be honest with themselves and admit they aren't going to do all this stuff. The saddest part is when it comes to exercise equipment. People don't exercise. They want to exercise, but it is work. They lack the motivation, but they fall prey to some late night infomercial which persuades them to buy some exercise gadget that will inevitably become a very expensive and space eating clothing rack. What makes it so sad is that exercise is virtually free. Even prisoners in solitary confinement manage to get rock hard using only pushups and situps and the edge of their bunks and whatever weight they can wrap in a towel. People aren't in shape because they lack equipment. They are out of shape because they lack time and motivation. All I am saying is that these people should at least do the honest thing and not waste resources on equipment they aren't going to use. And if you are going to do the exercise thing, begin with crunches, push ups, and an empty floor. This shit is free.

All these daydreams of a better life leads to a whole bunch of clutter. I am all for owning things if you use them. But nobody uses this shit. This is why you see so much of it for sale on eBay, Craigslist, and front yards across America. People have an abundance of cash but not an abundance of follow through. My advice is simple. Stop with the daydreaming. Lifestyle changes are not made with your wallet but with your watch. You are not what you buy. You are what you do. Before you go and buy that boat or that jet ski or that set of weights, ask yourself if you already exercise or fish or what have you. If the answer is no, save yourself the dough.

It is not fashionable to say this, but I say it anyway. Give up on the hobbies. If you want to eliminate clutter, don't pursue these hobbies. The dirty secret is they are all boring as hell. You always see the smiling faces on the brochures and commercials but riding around on shit is boring. Fishing is boring. Exercise is boring. So, why do people spend a little time and a whole lot of money on this boring shit? This is because we are taught that these activities constitute the "good life." No, they don't. If they did, you wouldn't see all that second hand equipment for sale on all those lawns.

Simplify your life. Decide what you are going to do with your free time and do it. For me, it is simple. I am going to read, write on my blog, and watch DVDs. I won't hesitate to buy a book or a new computer, and all that shit gets used up. I owned a mountain bike and a guitar, and I got rid of both of those things. I don't own a single thing that I don't use. The result is that people keep wanting to give me things. The reason is because they want the space back, and they think my life is empty because I don't own a bunch of shit. The irony is that my life is so full that I struggle to find time to do the things I enjoy doing. None of those things require a trailer behind my vehicle or a roof rack on my car.

The other aspect of this accumulation of unused equipment is vanity. People want to show off that they have money, or they are living a couple of rungs higher on the ladder of self-actualization. I am convinced this is why runners take up triathlon. Running is cheap and invisible. Triathlon is expensive and visible. Riding down the road with a Cannondale on a roof rack shows to the world that you belong to an elite tribe of overachievers. I suspect this is true of many other sports and activities. A piece of equipment is a badge of identity. I know because people think I am a hunter because I wear camouflage shirts and hats and carry a camo backpack. The reality is that I have never hunted anything in my life except the nearest McDonald's. I have the camo gear because the shit was cheap and on sale at Walmart. But I can't think of anything more boring than spending early mornings sitting in a tree stand trying not to fart and give myself away to Bambi.

Getting rid of the detritus of daydreams and good intentions is a liberating thing. It frees up space. It saves you money. It makes you quit thinking or caring what other people think about you. You stop feeling guilty for enjoying the things you truly love like watching TV, playing Halo, or reading Michael Connelly. It also saves you the hassle of putting the shit up for sale and haggling with people and selling it for a loss or carting it to Goodwill. The dirty fact is that all this detritus adds up to a bunch of regret. Make your things match your true living, and you will save yourself this regret.

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