You Don't Need to "Have it All"

The previous generation was obsessed with the idea that everyone of them, "Had to have it all," or at least, as much as possible -- which creates a problem when there is barely enough to go around.

People inevitably, spend much of their time fighting everybody else -- "for it all," without first thinking, "Is that what I really need?"  A major part of industry, was simply creating an insatiable need -- for everything, even and especially if one never had it before -- and really didn't know if they'd use and enjoy it when they got it -- but were convinced that they "had to" have it.

Among some of the things people were convinced they needed, was the biggest house, or the fanciest car, the highest status (job), trips to as many parts of the world as possible -- to live as though money were no object, or if it was, one had already "lost," and wasn't in the game with all the worthiest citizens of that society -- still striving for evermore.

Even at "retirement," it was not sufficient to bow out gracefully, but to have the "perfect" retirement (plan)  -- in the perfect retirement place, etc. -- "having it all," and leaving plenty for all their relatives and friends.  Obviously, that was not a reasonable goal for many, or most -- as it has always been, but a relatively well-documented few written about because they could afford to be written about, just as they could afford to be painted, and lavishly "entertained."

So the life of leisure and abundance, even came to be symbolized largely by one's insatiable appetite for entertainment -- more than the satisfaction of basic needs, which affluent societies now took for granted.  That became the new "poverty level" -- of just having all one really needed to live life at its most basic level.  That's how far we have "progressed" -- or many think so.

Life then becomes very difficult -- in the retirement paradises -- where the rich congregate to live the good life, particularly for those not so advantaged, and fall further behind the world's most privileged and wealthy, they live among.  In addition to the island paradises, they have also become most of the modern popular metropolises -- where the most ambitious and talented are still drawn to, in their quest to see if they can "get it all," before retiring from those "games."

Some feel they can never retire from those games -- but only find those they might be more competitive at -- golf, shuffle board, bridge, etc.  The easy one is the stock market.  And season tickets to the opera or sports team.  But now those things can be engaged in by anybody with a computer and Internet connection -- that makes living anywhere, no longer out of touch and in the boondocks -- with next day delivery for anything they order.

That is especially true, of almost anywhere in the USA -- and not that they have to be in New York, London, Paris anymore -- to avail themselves of the latest products and ideas (culture).  Most of that can be experienced in the comfort of one's living room anywhere.  That is the world we now live in.  So is it necessary to live in any particular part of the world -- to actually be living there, or can one live there, just by choosing to immerse oneself in that culture?  And if one wants the tan, nobody can tell the difference from whether it was earned from a hard day lying in the sun, or 5 minutes in a tanning booth.

All these things are not prohibitively expensive either.  They can be part of a "total package," that includes all the amenities of a health resort -- but at the end of the day, one returns to their own living room -- wherever that is.  That being the case, it makes sense to find the most affordable location that serves their needs -- for what they actually do, and need, and skip the luxury premium of doing it with the "celebrities," and others one thinks, "have it all."

Realizing this, is one's nirvana and paradise -- finding oneself, where they already are.