Sustainable Living

Before I get back to simple living, if I ever do, “sustainable living” is a term much easier to describe. It often comes down to having enough money. For today and all other days until you die, even if you lose your job tomorrow.

What’s not sustainable? 58% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Major surgery? Broke. A car accident? Broke. Flooding in the house? Broke and homeless. The list can go on.

Imagine you woke up tomorrow, and your manager told you the company shut down your department. In simpler terms, they fired you. What would you feel? Take a moment to think. Anger? Frustration? Desperation, even? Would you need to start looking for a job right away, or can you take a week off before you update your resume? What about a month? A year?

Now imagine your manager announced the same, but this time she (you also assumed the manager was male, didn’t you?) added that the company would keep paying your salary in full until the end of your days. Now, how would that feel? Better, eh?

What if I told you that the first scenario is what retirement looks like. But in this case, your body is your manager, and it demands you stop working. For some people, it happens at 80. For others, at 45. The second scenario, with unlimited salary, is what many people think retirement will look like for them. In reality, they can’t be more delusional.

Chances are, you come from a family like mine. Not poor, but definitely not rich. You read library books while your friends played the newest toys. You spent summers in a village with your grandma while your classmates toured Europe. Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be wealthy? So wealthy, that if you converted dollars to miles, you could travel to Mars and back? If you did that 500 times, you might understand Jeff Bezos.

I do wonder, sometimes. Because I know for a fact, the moment I stop working is the moment I’ll start counting days until I run out of money. This isn’t sustainable and has never been.

I hope that explains.