Being Happy With What We Have

We don't watch much TV in our house. There's a couple of reasons for that. One is that most shows tend to be crap. But we do find the odd good show, usually on ABC. And because watching TV isn't something we do much of, we really enjoy and appreciate those nights when we do just sit back and watch something entertaining. The other reason we don't watch is because we can't stand the commercialism of TV. Ad breaks are so frequent, and the ads themselves are so loud and intrusive [seriously, what's with making the ad louder than the TV show?]. I literally can't stand it, it's just a horrible blur of background noise to me. So usually, the TV stays off.

An upside of not watching much TV [actually there are heaps of upsides] is that we aren't exposed to much of the commercial aspect of life. The latest products that we have to have, that will make our life better, or make us look better, or that will make our neighbours envious of us. And we LOVE not being exposed to that world. Because we decided to live our lives differently to that. We don't need to have the latest gadgets to be happy. We don't need the latest trendy clothes to be happy. We don't need to buy a new car every other year to be happy. And we don't need to compare our life to what is shown on TV. Ever. [Although we are doing work on kitchen... are those home renovation shows still popular?] 

Happy with what we have - fresh vegetables from our garden.

We enjoy what we think is a simple life. We live in a tiny country town, in an affordable house with an imperfect bathroom, and a yard that is a work-in-progress. A sometimes-really-depressing-to-look-at-because-it's-all-taking-so-long work in progress. Perhaps we would be happier if we had more money? We could afford to spend more cash on bringing our garden up to scratch. But then, that wouldn't make the plants grow any faster, and it wouldn't make the rain fall in summer, and it wouldn't give us the satisfaction of watching the garden grow and evolve. And being in the location we are, we don't have the temptation of shops and malls filled with shiny pretty things we don't need, calling to us to part with our hard-earned.

Are we any happier for the choices we've made? I think so. I mean, at times it's frustrating to live in a small town, without the trappings of modern city life. But it's also very liberating. It allows us to live on one income, so I can study and be at home with our soon-to-arrive baby. And one day, I'll be the one providing the income so Charles can study or do whatever he wants to do. Every day we're wanting to step further and further away from being 'locked in' to the commercial terms of life. It's a bit like peeling an onion. Layer after layer, slowly stripping away our reliance on modern conveniences, becoming more self sufficient, and allowing us to live more fully how we intend to, not how we 'have' to. A day at a time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about everything in this modern world. I am thankful for my macbook, and our internet connection, and our cars [I would prefer if that read 'car']. And sometimes, life is not made simpler by living in a small town [eg the need for two cars]. Our impatience to have our 'perfect simple life' has to be tempered. For now, we are where we are. We have what we have. We have the things that are important to us, and we don't want for things that we don't need. Except for things on Etsy. And there you have it. I may not watch much TV and I'm not stuck in the mainstream commercial traps, but give me an Etsy shop full of handmade loveliness and I'm in constant state of  'want'.

Overall though, we're pretty happy with what we have.