Hectic Lifestyle Choices
About once a year, I head up to visit relatives and look forward to returning into a very simple life where you are surrounded by the forest and eat what it has provided. It’s a wonderful way to reflect on ones life and the environment we all live in.
Cost of modern life
We seem to all know the benefits of our modern North American life, from great medical care to top notch education for all but there are also great costs that come with our habits towards over-consumption. Health problems, environmental degradation, mental disorders and self-esteem garnered from what we can buy instead of who we can be. No matter how our lives play out, we choose each step of the way the direction it will take in the future.
Life “back in the good-old-days”
Let there be no illusion, life in the good-old-days was extremely difficult – it involved a lot of physical labor, sacrifice and hardship. A simple medical condition cured with pills today where often a death sentence. We tend to think life back then was simpler, it was but in many other ways, it was also more complex. You see, life before our modern conveniences involved a constant search for food stability and predictability – there where no grocery stores and food spoiled quickly. If you had no food, you starved – if you had no clean water, you took a gamble – if you had no shelter, none was provided. There where no real governments to “back you up”, if you had problems you where mostly on your own to deal with them and if you wanted to travel anywhere, it was done with great reservations. It was truly the survival of the fittest and the further you go back, the more extreme the conditions.
Up North Vacation
While I was on vacation going from cottage to hunting cabins for a weeks time, I was reminded of how rewarding a simple life can be – if you are hungry, catch a fish or hunt, if you are cold, put some more wood on the fire, if you are dirty, jump in a lake or river, if you are tired, sleep… now that is simple living at its best! Time also has no meaning in nature, it’s either night or day – there are no “landmarks” to indicate the year, day of the week or what the weather will be like tomorrow. Nature is timeless – it’s only our modern lifestyles that require the precision of time. I guess spending most of my life in this materially driven world I forgot for a few moments that money isn’t necessary for living a fulfilling life – I never saw a squirrel go without nuts because his wallet was empty 
Life today
Todays life is so far beyond our ancestors wildest dreams that I am sure they would be amazed at how much we take for granted and if they where to return, would take the story of their adventures in heaven The Internet, machinery, bio-pharmaceuticals and technology of every shape and kind… our current world is truly astounding! Even the simple luxury of flushing a toilet was something only Kings could afford a little over 100 years ago. Instead of wondering where our next meal will come from, we waste our time with fashion, television, vanity and a host of other distractions – we have so much spare time that many people in our society simply loose focus on who they are and resort towards abusing their own bodies to feel alive via over-consumption. Obesity in the good old days was RARE but not unheard of, now it’s common place, families stayed together for generations, now many kids send their parents to old age residences and before we could eat fish to our hearts content, now we worry about mercury poisoning… there is simply so much over-abundance for us living the modern lifestyle that we have forgotten what is important in life and cruise through life on autopilot. We tend to even look down upon the plight of “uncivilized” cultures and even worse, take advantage of their situation to benefit our own. We are so inundated with worthless junk that many of us have lost the meaning of what it means to be alive.
Finding Balance
By keeping physically fit, appreciating everything we have and not forgetting where we came from I believe a balance can be easily achieved – it does take time, commitment and work but there really is a way to juggle the advances of the modern day without the hardships of the past. We do not have to choose between modern vs past, we can steer our lives towards the benefits that each provides.
Solitude isn’t a bad thing
As I was paddling my kayak right before sunset on a calm source fed lake, I stopped in the middle of the lake and did nothing, you know what I heard? NOTHING! No, it wasn’t for a few seconds, it was for as long as I wanted… the simple act of hearing absolutely NOTHING is something so few of us know about. As I write this, I hear traffic passing by, I can close my windows, put on ear plugs but no matter what I do, I simply am unable to achieve the absolute solitude and serenity I experienced on the lake about a week ago. Knowing there is nobody around for miles and you are completely alone with your thoughts is better then any vacation you can take. We should all be as lucky to experience this in our lives. Solitude isn’t a bad thing, it’s a wonderful thing.
The Bottom Line
How can I find optimum benefit ratio between our modern day lives and our ancient past?
If you asked somebody a few years ago that people would be spending money “buying” water at the local store, you would have been tarred and feathered – labeled a lunatic. Pure water is a limited resource considering all the waste and pollution we throw into it on a daily basis- that is if you’re lucky enough to be born with easy access to water in the first place.
