Juju and L-Daddy work hard at their jobs. As a result they take annual vacations, have got a nice house, loads of cars and an in ground pool to play in during the summer. Part of my job is to keep the house organized, especially to clean up the mess the kids make in the few hours they spend here between coming home from school and going to bed.
Most people would look at all this stuff and aspire to own something like it someday. But while I've definitely benefited from the nice things that surround me here, I've been questioning lately whether all the sacrifices we make for this kind of ownership are worth it. Despite the general Western motto of "work hard, play harder," a lot of people seem to work hard, then work harder.
As a traveler I've met plenty of people on "playcations" (extended breaks from work and life in general). They're a pretty happy, optimistic subset of people who've dropped out of the rat-race to be this and own that. Of course, you don't have to be a traveler to have that attitude, but I've met a lot of non-travelers who are trapped in unsatisfactory jobs or life situations but can't see any way out.
They hate their job but can't leave it. Want change but won't move. I guess you can't blame them for being afraid of the unknown - on my side, I'm afraid of falling into the daily grind they can't escape from.
I haven't saved a lot of money in my last few years of travel around the world. I can't afford to buy a house or stay in fancy hotels, buy expensive souvenirs from the places I visit or eat in fancy restaurants. But what I've sacrificed in material gain, at least I can say I've made up for in perspective. For the wealthiest countries I've visited contain some of the least happy and most stressed out people; and the poorest countries have shown me just the opposite. Of course, I'm not talking about abject poverty - that's just no fun, no matter where you live - but I think there might be happiness to be gained from doing without all this comfortable "stuff" we covet so much.
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