Ever buy yourself something? A new pair of shoes for example, even though you already have 10 perfectly good pairs already, but you want new ones, just because? Well, I have and I still do. Not only with shoes, with everything, absolutely everything.
I sometimes feel ashamed to have luxury problems when I can’t decide which jacket to wear or what I will have for dinner tonight, meanwhile there are people who don’t have a jacket and haven’t eaten for days.
I feel like I need to experience ‘poverty’ just to give myself a wake up call, a right good shake! To help me realize what I have in life and yet still complain about.
I am lucky enough to be able to begin to plan such a trip, but to where?
The original plan for the trip was to fulfill a lifelong dream to visit America, namely New York, but there is something inside me that has built up so much expectations about the place that I would feel let down when I got there. Again, a luxury problem.
There is poverty on my doorstep, we walk past homeless beggars on a daily basis, the problem is; which ones have a genuine reason for being where they are and which ones have people willing to help who they choose to ignore?
This phrase keeps popping into my head “Je moet roeien met de riemen die je hebt” it’s a Dutch expression that means “you have to make do with what you have”, what I have is luxury problems that I want rid of.
I often see documentaries about life in poor countries and one thing that strikes me the most is how happy some of the people are, they are almost always smiling although they have absolutely nothing. Here I am feeling hard done too because i can’t go clubbing this weekend or I cant have the latest smart phone.
The older generation inspire me, they re-use everything! They never buy anything that isn’t necessary, they will always try to repair things rather than replacing them. They rock!
I really want to get back to basics, what I mean by that is; only buy things that I need and not the things think I need and really just want (except beer of course).
My new years resolution is not to buy any clothes until I can buy a smaller size, I need to lose some of the luxury kilo’s I have gained over the years and save for this trip!
Any hints or tips are always welcome.
eeryweerywoe 