Rethinking Lifestyle

Conversations can reveal a lot about the people having them. Saying something is always a reflection of what we believe and what we want others to believe. That’s why I find it so interesting to hear what people have to say about “the way things are”. Ask them about real estate, and they’ll say it’s unstable. Ask them about war and they’ll say it’s inevitable. Ask them about other people and… well that’s where it gets interesting.

In my experience, most people will complain that “people are getting into far too much debt”, “they’re always on their cell phones”, “we live in a wasteful society”, and “big companies are ruining the planet.” Most people seem to agree that this will not end well. Funny thing is, these are the people that other people are saying those things about. Perhaps like any vice, we’re quick to point the finger and slow to see our own faults. I, for instance, can often be heard complaining about our society’s dependence on gasoline – and I live 20 minutes’ drive from work! I often criticize our population’s terrifying dependency on electricity – yet my house (like any other) would be uninhabitable after a single week without power. Like everyone else, I have my reasons. One of the biggest is simply being a member of society. When society is arranged in a certain way – for example, with employment concentrated within urban centres – it can be seriously disadvantageous to contradict that reality. Similarly, a person cannot easily justify the economics of improving a house in ways that few future buyers will value.

Nevertheless, it is possible – even desirable – to push back. There’s a freedom in evaluating your actions on no other criteria than what you know is right. Sometimes (maybe always?) the right choice is not the economically optimal one. Case in point: the garden my wife and I built before selling our new home. Anyone would say it was a waste of time, and certainly didn’t fit the “beautifully groomed” model that most buyers want to see. But I didn’t care. People don’t need a sprawling monoculture – we need free nutritious food, a connection with the earth, and time away from our screens. I chose that.

Or take recycling as another example. Despite the fact that it’s dirty and unpleasant and no one is asking me to do it, I sort my recycling by type. I cut the metal base out of cardboard juice cans. I pay more for (better quality) milk that comes in washable glass bottles, and refuse to buy things that come in non-recyclable containers. Will it make a difference? Wrong question. Right now, what I can do is refuse to be a part of the problem. As much as possible, I choose that.

I believe that the conversations I share with people reveal that we all share some deep misgivings about the direction we’re choosing daily. If we’re serious about those misgivings, it’s time the subject of those conversations is ourselves rather than “Them”.