On halfway through the journey of life when I look back, I realize the life is too short. Life is too short to do anything meaningful. You would not agree with this in the first instance. Specially if you are starting early in your life. Life is about dreams and achieving them, right? But for some of you who are at the end of your life you may have realize this as a fact. Life did move fast without you even knowing it. Some of you may be happy with achievements you have made, but is that all they're for the life? What about the rat race we are running. How many of them we have lost on the way?
Poem Summer Dandelions.
Caught up in breeze, dandelions begin a journey in summer.
Freshly found wings, first took them high into the sky.
Together they flew above the bushes, and high grass.
Looking for a suitable land away from home.
Some, ended up on trees, some on leaves.
Some landed on water and drowned indeed.
Some never took off, couldn't break away from pods.
Dried up by the sun, some never got succeed.
Yet there were some, hugged the soil at the end.
Just enough water, enough sunlight they needed.
On roots they stood up, stemmed high above the ground.
To rise up and against the other weed.
They cherished the success and, over the perished, they didn't weep.
More about rat race is found in my previous article Here "On Horse races and rat races."
Modern day city life asks us to be more and more talented and high achieving each and every day. Even when you are not thinking about co-operate sense. There are enough and more races, which we have created artificially against each other. If you are a sportsman, you want to race with others and win a medal. If you are a businessman, you want to beat the others and win the market. If you are a musician, you want to be a you tube sensation. There is no end to the race. I find this tiring and exhausting. Sitting on the bed after a night shift I am writing about it today so we can share our thoughts on this. Maybe there is a way to get out of the rat race.
Life is not about success.
Life is about success. My teachers told me, if you work hard in school, you would be successful in life. I believed them. But it did not end up there. Life did not get better. We excelled in life, with some of friends. Now, after years into the life having seen beyond the school, I know that is wrong. Life is not about success. Life is not about achievements.
Is life about happiness? Well, it seems some truth about it. But I would not call it happiness. I would call it satisfaction. There is a difference between success and satisfaction. Someone can be very successful and not satisfied. Someone can be not successful yet very satisfied.
You can read the poem "science of nature."
Satisfaction in action - becoming a minimalist.
If you ask me how to win a race, I will tell try hard, invest 10000 hours of time. And then you will win the race. For specific type of race there will be success instruction manuals if you just search in Google. Lately I doubt these. If we think about simple terms of probability, It is likely that you will not win the race at all. If there are 100 participants, the chance of you failing 99%. But what are other options?
One rational option is trying to satisfy with what you get, after you have race. Which is hard to do as we race to win right? Some can get more hurt in the process and there will be more jobs for the psychotherapist. Becoming a minimalist is another option.
In traditional sense becoming a minimalist is reducing your luxurious dreams and cut down on consumption. Sell off your excessive baggage and travel free. More importantly here I would suggest not participating in the rat race. Can you still fulfil a satisfied life?
Of course you can. Without risk of failure, you can still live a satisfied life. If you target only some food, little bit of silence and some nature, you can have it with a minimal pay job. But you cannot do that. Why? because you will be labeled as going backwards. You will be labeled as poor, and you will lose your friends and family who wants you to be successful. I would suggest, stop living for others' expectations. That is the why we are entangled in the rat race in the first place. Rat races are the invention of the society.
read more on what is a life well spent.
I would end the article with another small paragraph from the book, From the past to the future or what is time.
Step 2 - Tour-de France. Last July was 120 years since its beginning of this race in 1903, and it has evolved over time into one of the world's most celebrated events. From a simple race of individuals, it has evolved over time into teams, nations, individuals racing against each other. Every lap, every corner, every mountain, it's all about time. From beginning to the end of each race, time is measured and live displayed on the screen to the viewers all around the world. Throughout hours of the race, even after that, commentators' comment about minutes, seconds and milliseconds of margins which has determined winners and runner ups, yellow, green and white jerseys. To gain such marginal advantages cyclists train throughout the year from special meals, exercises, clothing, relaxation to perfect execution of their team plans to push against others. A century ago, there was no technology to determine such marginal wins which are analyzed by advanced methods today using computers. Yet there were winners and prizes, praises and heartbreaks. Who determines the winning?
The winner of a race wouldn’t be there unless there is someone to come second. Similarly, the places at the end of the race, are relative to each other. If there was only one person who was riding, there would be no race at all. So, participation matters. Hence the term, “It's not about winning but taking part “, but that is not complete either. If no one races against each other, it would be only a midsummer country cycle tour, a traveling and sightseeing tour, not the world-famous Tour de France. Hence the term “It's not about winning but taking part, the essential thing about life is not conquering but fighting well.” So, why do they fight? Or why should they fight against each other? What is the essential thing about a race being a race?
Key point: How to stop the rat race - becoming a minimalist.
True meaning of becoming a minimalist is not participating in the rat race, which is difficult as we are social animals. Be prepared to be lonely if you choose that path.
Thank you for reading: How to stop the rat race - becoming a minimalist.
You may also like to read: Why can't we live in present moment.
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