http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/123/high-cost-of-living
The entire show is all about how you shouldn't be worried about your fancy life, that the one that the type of life that everyone strives for, is actually sort of horrible and having asimple life that you don't have to worry about all of the stuff is easier, better, and just a happier place to be psychologically/emotionally.
I really wish that I could get behind that mentality, because it's what rich people say.
Rich people say stupid things like, you know what is really annoying? Having a nice house, a car, having debt payed off and not having to worry about going to my job every single day. Not having to worry about living paycheck to paycheck is such a hassle, I really wish I could go back to a simpler life when I was worried if I was going to have electricity in my house.
Seriously, who even says that? Who thinks that their multi-million dollar life is so horrible that they want to turn around and give it all up because it requires a bit of work?
Officially, the show was supposed to be about "living life to the fullest" and how that doing that isn't worth it, and sometimes it's better to "make yourself numb", but that translates out to having money and wanting to not have money. The only people that can "live life to the fullest" are people who have money. Even the person in the show that was falsly diagnosed with HIV, it's obvious that she had money, because people that don't have money wouldn't be able to afford all of the treatments she went through, have the time to go to all of the support groups, and d o all of the things that she was able to do. People with money have the time and luxury to worry about their life (and death) where as people that are not so fortunate are stuck with the simple option of going to work because rent is due and you have to pay the bills.
You don't have time to worry about your life or even live it to it's fullest when you have two jobs. You don't get to live life to the fullest when you have credit card debt, student debt, loans, or whatever else is sitting out there waiting for you to pay it off. There's no way for you to enjoy life when you're sitting and looking at your fridge wondering what you're going to eat because your kitchen is empty and buying something at the store translates to finding the cheapest menu option possible.
I'm not at that point right now, but I've only been slightly above that point for the past few months, and there's no way at all that 'simplifying' my life would ever be a good thing. Yes, it would be AMAZING to not have to worry about work, life, or any of those stresses, but that requires money. The only way that simplifying is a better life is if you don't have to worry about doing all of that simplification, and that requires the one thing that there is little of. This isn't to say that I'm a paycheck away from being homeless, but there's no way that I'm going back to that point. I've had my bank account in the red. I've had a paycheck get demolished into nothing leaving me with rice and tuna fish to eat until the next paycheck because it only slightly zeroed out my debt. Sure that was simple, but there's no way ever that I'm going to go back into that life.
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