“Money…is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create life values that make the fire worth the candle.” – Rolf Potts, Vagabonding
Do you work to live, or do work to pay for things and maintain appearances?
Let me put it another way, do you have fancy things (houses, cars, toys), but can’t buy real furniture or go on a vacation?
Do you spend money to impress people, or use money to have experiences?
Does a large percentage of your income go to maintain stuff, or does it give you freedom?
Or as Thoreau wrote, are you spending “the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it” ?
Anyone can make money and buy things.
Few, though, seem to break the dual curses of materialism and waiting until retirement to “enjoy” life.
As Rolf Potts wrote, we are missing out on “weaving a tapestry of life experience that is much richer and more intricate than you could ever have imagined…“
Darrick Dean 