Stuff

I recently taught a lesson to my English 3 students about Romanticism. I described it to them as our hippie era. Where those most involved in the movement, composing music, art, essays and novels focused on preaching that the greatest thing you could strive for in life is to be at peace within yourself and with what you have. My favorite symbol of romanticism is the ‘Flauncer’ a French creation of a man who spends his days idly walking through town with no place he has to be, listening to the conversations of others, totally content that he doesn’t have a job to rush off to.

I so admire that approach to life. To start your morning slowly and mindfully. Not to feel rushed to do a thousand things before you head out the door and speed to work. I hate giving quick goodbyes and see you laters: I want to linger more in my day.

That’s not to say I want my day to lack purpose; I want it to have meaning. So often when we give our time to other people they waste it. Think ‘this meeting could have been an email.’ We have put busy on such a pedestal sometimes I feel like we create work for the sake of work.

Why are we working so hard? Why are we so driven to take the extra hours, pick up the extra project, and trade our time for money?

I asked my students what do you really want to fill your day with? What’s your purpose? I talked with them about how the “greats” were obsessed with their craft. Our best music, books, inventions and progress came from someone’s obsession, the neglect of their ‘work’ and a focus on their purpose.

We’ve been so brainwashed that we should care about getting ‘stuff’ to feel happy. The newest tech, the best clothes, the biggest house.

But what if instead, we leaned in to the experience of life and found the thrill of living.