The Pursuit of Hippie-ness

I wasn't always a nouveau hippie. I used to be regular American girl stuck on the sad hamster wheel of life. I had a corporate job, yuppie friends, credit card debt, a shopping addiction, and was perpetually on diets. I was proud of the number of shoes I owned and took pride in my closets (yes, plural) of clothes. I zipped around, ever busy, zooming toward bigger and better paycheck aspirations. Now by American Dream standards I was doing really well. My husband and I had a huge house in the nicest neighborhood in town. He had a great stable job, and I had one of those 'Devil Wears Prada' gigs with loads of potential and great connections. High fashion, high pressure meaninglessness.

But slowly the stress crept in like a odorless toxic gas. We pounded caffeine all day to keep up with our hamster wheel. We ate in a hurry and finished dinner with a cocktail or two to finally try and slow us down and relax us into couch puddles where we would absorb some brain-cocaine mundane TV shows until  we finally poured ourselves into bed. The next morning, with the help of trusty coffee we were back at it again. And so it went for years.

Then one day it just sort of hit us that the harder we worked toward achieving the things on our list, the unhappier we both seemed to be. I remembered being perfectly happy in a puddle of mud and rubber boots as a child. I remember picnics on mountain tops with my husband. I remember the sense of achievement from working so diligently to grow cucumbers on our apartment balcony years before. 

It seemed to me the best times of my life had been when I was out of my expensive heels, likely dirty and sweaty, and away from all the things life told me to acquire.

So we decided to start living life with a purpose. Our own purpose and not what others told us it should be. We began to focus on what gave us joy, and made a priority to do more of that. We also had to endure the difficult task of identifying the toxic parts of our life and doing less or none of that. This included leaving my job behind, moving to a smaller house much more our style that was in much need of some TLC and much better suited to our budget. It was a project, just like we looked at ourselves as. The process also included culling time spent with people that we thought we should or needed to spend time with (bosses, coworkers for networking opportunities, and even paralyzingly toxic family members for example). Difficult as it was we finally had time to breathe. Detox. Find ourselves and spend time on the things and people that mattered and added value to our life.

Along the way I had also learned to stop dieting and starting eating real food for the rest of my life. Through a long course of self research we converted to a plant based diet. As a result our weights returned to normal as well as our blood work and blood pressure. I had found my passion in healthy living and delicious food.

 I now spend my time creating healthy food, staying muddy in my organic vegetable garden, staying fit by always trying new workouts and blogging about the many joys in my life, especially healthy living. My husbands happier too. Thankfully he always enjoyed his job, and still does, but for him the change really happened when he started surrounding himself with positive people and letting go of the toxic relationships. His happiness increased dramatically and continues to grow as he has more newfound time to devote to self improvement.

And so that how we became this new kind hippie. I have to say it's pretty groovy (harr harr harr). This is the life I always wanted. This is life I always dreamed of, but it looks so different than the way 'culture' or 'society' told me  it should. 

It occurred to me along the way that it isn't that 'society' was trying to lead me astray. It isn't with  malicious intent that we are programed to want the All American Dream. I believe that it is simply a byproduct of consumerism. Hear me out.

See, if you happen to not want a big two story house and two brand new SUVs and a closet full of designer clothes, and credit card debt and dinner out every night, and 700+ cable channels then what could my fellow countrymen possibly sell to me? Not much.

Sure I buy things. You could sell me some plants or a new shovel, and I really enjoy a nice cup of tea, but what can you really sell me? I mean what can you sell me that costs a whole lot and causes me to borrow money to pay for? Nothing really. And if you can't sell me anything major in a capitalist society then you hear a roaring "Whah Whah"and a black rain cloud settles over your immediate area.  Because if you're not a major consumer in a capitalist culture then that makes you an outsider. A hippie. And so thats what I am. A minimalist consumer, doing my best to live with fervor while being as self sufficient as possible all the while. Passion, joy, bliss, exuberance and adrenaline are all free because everyone already owns them. But that doesn't sell a lot of loans, does it?

The Meaning of Life

Back in my college days as a philosophy minor I remember spending an entire semester pouring over the question of the meaning of life. Never was I more engaged in an abstract question than this. Although theories abound, since unlike mathematics there is no quantifiable solution to the question, my classmates and I concluded that the answer is subjective, and it should be subjective. Each person must answer this question for themselves and likely revisit it often to check up on it. Perhaps the meaning of ones life evolves over time just as that individual grows and changes. Or perhaps as a person grows and changing the meaning of their life doesn't change, but they simply get closer to understanding what it has been all along. This seems reasonable to me and as close to a definition of what the meaning of life conclusively is.
For me personally, I do my best to revisit the question often and have found that many times the best progress I make on finding the answer is simply to rule out what doesn't matter.
I would advise you to spend some time meditating or just thoughtfully probing what the meaning of life means to you. Since it can seem like an overwhelming topic to wrap your brain around, I would also suggest starting by asking yourself what the meaning of life isn't to you. It seems much more approachable to begin thinking of a list for "The Meaning of Life is Not...".
On this list for me are things like haircuts, shoes, telephones, board meetings, anything I purchase in a store, and any object I own. This doesn't mean I don't partake in these items, but I don't spend much of my time engulfed in them or attached to them.
Cars are not the meaning of life, houses are not, and neither are jobs. You would never lay on your death bed and say "I'm so thankful that I had this life to live so I could buy that car. It was all worth it because of that". No. The meaning of life, the thing that makes you thankful for a nice long life lived, is much harder to put your finger on. This is why it requires and deserves some of your attention. Perhaps it takes a lifetime to discover what the meaning of life is, and maybe we never have a solid answer, but for me remaining mindful of what doesn't really matter helps me stay focused on the things that are of most value to my life. This mental exercise helps us to hone our sights on living the most meaningful life we are capable of in each moment we are fortunate enough to experience.
The world around is a question waiting to be answered, and it also holds the answers if only we listen closely.