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The most cliche question that I can think about and probably the most profound at the same time, is, if money weren’t an issue, what would I be doing? I thought about that, and I believe if I see life through this lens, I can integrate my dream life into reality. I will travel. I will leave the hustle and bustle of a system that is so parasitic that it will one day eat itself alive.
At What Cost?
My experience in the last couple of years trying to navigate this system of capitalism has led me to a place that brings me back to valuing the things I enjoy. In my opinion, the world we’re living in is very unnatural. From 9-5 culture, health insurance scandals, shout out to my boy Luigi Mangione, mental health issues, the economy, and how “tech” advancements have altered culture in an apathetic way, I just want to leave it all. Social Mobility is a lie; the people who create the world we live in don’t have to live in it, and new “advancements” facilitate new problems. It almost feels as if nothing is real. Everything is empty and grey, and your thoughts sometimes aren’t even your own. I worked at the Bank for a bit, dealing with the general public, and one thing most people have in common is stress and anxiety. People are paying an expensive tax just to work, they can’t even afford to live. This culture that we live in creates this aura of emptiness that only time and appreciation can fix, but those virtues are sometimes out of people’s tax brackets. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot of great things that we have, like Fast shipping, internet access, new tech gear, a flatter earth, but at what cost? How much do you have to pay to be a human? I understand that if it weren’t for markets and advancement, most humans would be dead by 40 and scavenging for food, but why do we still have to be mentally triggered by the same fight or flight stressors systems in a world that is supposedly better? The truth is, it is not better. We’re just in human made jungle. I wouldn’t consider it Darwinism, but it is somewhere in between survival of the fittest and a happy dream. A paradoxical landmind. If it were up to me, I would opt out. There are some things that we can’t opt out of, though, like labor to sustain oneself. I will opt out that the action of taking care of oneself self not a battle or difficult. With all of the things we have, the truth is, some things shouldn’t be that hard. I might have to let go of some of my material goals, but I can gain some time to intentionally heal, learn, and grow. I would love to have slow mornings, long bike rides, long beach days, and to sleep capriciously. I would like to get up and do something from a place of love, effort, and community, rather than just to survive. These things are a privilege that most people don’t have, it’s either one or the other. You can either have a good house, food, and quality of life, and never get to enjoy such quality of life because you’re always at work trying to maintain it, or you can have those slow mornings, but never know when your next dollar or meal is coming from. The double-edged sword of a first-world country and a third. Whose to blame? The people at the top who know that they can control you by making things that shouldn’t;t be hard to get or do, a survival issue. We live in a world where we can probably change the quality of living of most, but those at the top say, “At what cost?”. We the people have to think about that as well, at what cost do we have to endure to live in their reality? They’re thinking about it, so why shouldn’t we? This is why, if it wasn’t for money. I would travel and learn, and be engaged in the value of humanity and the world. I will travel and do just that. I will earn my way to it one way or another and try to change it. My purpose will be found in between traveling, spreading, influencing, and communicating.
I will integrate this into my life by handling what I have to do on the main front, and then creating the world that I want with just as much hard work and focus. I want you guys to all think about the cost we pay to exist. What’s the cost of your dreams and purpose? Do you think the way you’re living is worth it? At what cost does it take for you to want to make change?
