Simple Means

It’s roughly 5:00 PM, the sun, sitting just above the tops over the trees that shoot from the ground on the opposite side of the river, has finally peeked out from behind the clouds, transforming the formerly depressing grey sky into a vibrant, energizing blue. The river rages from the previous day’s downpour, creating a constant backdrop that the songbirds resting high in the foliage above playoff. With the warm, late-spring sun beating down on my knees contrasted by a cool breeze, I am truly at peace. I swing back and forth in my hammock, in deep thought. In my contemplative mood, I begin to make sense of ideas that had previously left me deeply confused. It is as if I have been shown the end result of a complex puzzle I had been guessing at for years.

As humans, we innately dislike the feeling of being called a follower, but we work our whole lives for the same goals. Granted, most everyone has something slightly different in mind, but a large proportion of people are set on acquiring a great amount of wealth and buying an absurdly large house. However, the reality is that “most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have.”1 In 2017, about 84% of millennial homeowners had a mortgage, whereas 32% of adults 70 and older were still paying off a mortgage, according to Forbes magazine. The most common mortgage length is 30 years. If I bought a house that I cannot afford right now (seventeen years old) with a standard mortgage, I will finally pay that off at a startling forty-seven years old. Because of our natural desire to conform to societal norms, we put ourselves in a position where we are in debt for a large portion of our lives. If I were to put that money into a home of the simplest form, I would have the means to live a life truly worth living rather than being forced into a commitment that will last well into my future. This previously discussed philosophy of Henry David Thoreau in Walden, was closely followed by Chris McCandless, documented in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. Although the circumstances McCandless put himself in that lead to his death were quite extreme, a great deal can be learned from him. Because McCandless was not bothered by what society thought of him, he was able to live by simple means and be sincerely happy: happier than most people can only dream of being.

Sitting in the woods alone, no technology, or anything else of extraneous value, I am happier than I have been in months. I am able to push away the constant nagging of social media, the show I had been watching on Netflix screaming my name, and all thoughts of the outside world. I am able to look inwards and truly reflect on what I want in life and not what society tells me I want.

1 Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. Kenkyusha, 1948.