Back to basics

Don't know if it's a sign of aging, but I've felt the urge to shop less and less. When I was younger (damnit i feel so old typing this) and didn't know what to do with all that spare time after school, my fellow slackers and I would happily take the bus to Suntec / Orchard depending on which bus came first. Then we would just "hang out", which, in our case, was to sit for hours in fast food restaurants, try on multiple random things at every other store, and diss each other and probably irritating others around us. Haaaaaa. Carefree days. Yeah nothing was achieved, but you still look back on such days with wistful fondness.

These days, I dont easily buy anything, unless it's really useful, or Im going to keep it for a very long time. ie. not throw out after half a year. Same goes for food / daily neccessities etc. Besides the fact that this has saved me abit of money, it also assuages my inner guilt somehow for not doing more to help the environment / people who get less of the world's natural resources. The gross reality is that a small privileged group of people have more than they could ever consume and are overweight, over indulgent and self-centred. Whereas in other parts of the world some people can't even buy real food with their money because it's literally worthless, and besides, there's just not enough to go round. Meanwhile, more trees are being chopped down, species disappearing before your next birthday, ice caps melt continually.

Modern societies have reached such an appalling degree of mindless excess that we are not just harming the environment, we neglect our own kind, and quality of life really only goes down instead of up. What quality of life is there when you mindlessly go to a job you don't believe in day after day to earn your next holiday or LV bag?

To maintain my own sanity and level of happiness, I've decided to go back to basics. The body is all we have for the entire length of our lives - only one heart, one liver. So first and foremost, I want to take good care of it so it will take care of me. This has wider implications on lifestyle choices, diet, beauty regime etc. It's bloody hard work. But I've decided it's worth it in the long term.
The only big hurdle is my incredible laziness.

If I drew this as a venn diagram then it would be the innermost circle. The second circle would be the immediate community. Ideally I want to take a more active role in helping out my community, whether it be my neighbourhood, old people, stray cats, disabled etc. Been a bystander for too long, just think it's finally time to do something.

The outer most circle would be to travel more widely. Unlike what some may say, I belive the world is a wide place, however connected we appear to be in cyberspace. If one really wished, there are many hidden opportunities to widen your own perspective, learn new ways of living, find a new best friend. Perhaps how you live your life changes - who knows. Yesterday, I saw this picture of a young Jane Goodall. She was laughing, with an outstretched hand towards a chimp. It must have taken some courage for her mother and her to abandon civilisation and go live in the jungles - I wonder what fuelled that? And because of that choice, Goodall's life course was changed. Maybe all I really want to do is throw myself out there and see how I'll fare in unfamiliar places.