Do you remember the opening monologue from the film Trainspotting? In it, the main character is talking about the script that most of us are encouraged to follow: choosing a career, an enormous TV, home appliances, and so on. Hustle and slave away in order to consume in greater and greater quantities, gaining fame and fortune along the way.
But this isn’t the only way to live a life. In fact, wanting less and choosing a simpler road can be much more fulfilling than focusing on ambition and acquisition. And here’s why:
1. Reaching for something attainable is more satisfying than plodding towards a goal that you’re unlikely to reach.
My partner has a friend who’s been dreaming of a career as a film and TV actress for nearly 40 years now. She’s had a few bit roles here and there, but it’s been apparent to everyone for a long time that this dream goal will be denied to her.
She has turned down countless other career opportunities in pursuit of this pipedream, and keeps getting more and more disappointed with every failed audition — especially since the only roles she’s eligible to audition for now seem to be parts as nuns, grandmothers, or eccentric neighborhood widows.
Had she aimed for roles in community theater or the odd commercial as a side pursuit, rather than a career goal, she would have attained her dreams and felt immense satisfaction at having done so.
Instead, her life is full of regret and bitterness towards those who succeeded where she failed — including her own children. Aiming for something attainable leaves room for surprise success, rather than perpetually falling short of the desired goal.
2. Less output = overall health improvement.
Do you know what happens when soil isn’t allowed to go fallow, but is instead forced to keep producing year-round via artificial light, fertilizers, and aggressive irrigation? That soil loses nutrients as well as structural integrity, and the plants growing in it get sick and die. The same thing can happen to people who work nonstop because they believe that grinding 24/7 is the way for them to prove their worth and attain accolades from those they admire.
There’s an old saying along the lines of “if you don’t make time to rest, your body will eventually force you to — and never at a convenient moment.” The more a person outputs in pursuit of ambitious goals, the less likely they are to allot any time to rest and replenish themselves. It’s only in times of deep rest and sleep, however, that the body is able to repair itself. This is when the body regenerates stem cells, reduces inflammation and stress hormones, clears toxins, and lowers blood pressure.
This is why people who are constantly grinding to output and achieve can end up suffering a slew of poor health issues across the board. By wanting less and striving for simple things rather than multiple, overly ambitious pursuits, a person can enjoy better health and greater peace of mind for much longer than they could have if they worked themselves into the ground.
3. Gratitude for what you have instead of perpetually grasping for more
When you don’t have much, you learn to develop immense gratitude for the little things you do have. You take care of your clothes and household items by mending them and keeping them in good shape, rather than using them with the perspective that you can throw them out and get new ones whenever you like.
Similarly, you savor each bite of food that you prepare, and use scraps and leftovers in things like soup or casseroles rather than letting anything go to waste. You also have real appreciation for your friends, your partner, and other important people in your world.
Having an overabundance of various things — including acquaintances and lovers — can lead to apathy. You’ll likely get bored with what you have easily, so you may find yourself perpetually seeking something bigger, better, hotter, richer, and so on.
Focusing on gratitude instead of callous, careless behavior can keep both your possessions and your relationships in great shape. You won’t treat anything or anyone as replaceable, but instead, you treasure what you have and treat it accordingly.
4. A calm, simple life can be much more satisfying than a grindset.
We’ve seen a lot of people praising “hustle culture” in recent years, trying to outdo one another with how few hours they sleep every night. The idea has generally been to forego sleep in favor of making as much money as possible. To build an empire in the manner that they believe successful people need to employ to get what they want. In their minds, they’re attaining everything they ever wanted in life, and only feel accomplished if they’ve worked back-to-back shifts, fueled by coffee and cayenne-kale shots.
In contrast, it’s immensely satisfying to wake when the sun comes through the window, have a leisurely coffee on the porch, and then set to the day’s chores, rather than being blasted awake by an alarm to fight traffic and deal with office stress for 18 hours straight.
Life becomes something much more organic and natural when it’s simplified instead of being driven by a long litany of “musts.” Essentially, you can gently bob along the current of life rather than trying to swim upstream, battered by other fish, scraped over rocks, and dodging bear claws.
5. You can focus on quality over quantity.
One antique piece of furniture will usually last a lifetime, and is more beautiful and satisfying than prefabricated stuff you need to replace every few years. Furthermore, the beauty and craftsmanship in a piece like this will make it a stand-alone treasure that doesn’t need to be decked out with stuff in order to look good.
Everything in life can fall into these same parameters: a great pair of boots or a well-tailored coat can take the place of dozens of lower-caliber pieces that fall apart easily. Having a few beautiful things that you cherish is far more fulfilling than surrounding yourself with dozens of mediocre items that you’ll tire of quickly and dole out tons of money to replace on a regular basis.
6. Wanting less means you’re more able to adapt when life takes unexpected turns.
When you’re aiming for less, you aren’t devastated by the loss of major dreams when life suddenly takes a turn for the worse (as it very often does). This is because you haven’t invested a huge amount of time, effort, and money into this endeavor, so there isn’t a massive loss if it doesn’t pan out.
Many people collect ambitions or life goals without crossing any of them off their lists. Over the passage of time, these dreams can become weights and ties that bind, rather than being inspirational. Then, when these overly ambitious plans never pan out, these individuals may end up feeling that they’ve wasted their entire lives. Wanting less protects you from this and means you’re less likely to crumble when things don’t work out as you’d dreamed.
7. There’s less work with less stress.
I have a friend whose entire sense of self-worth is tied to achievement. She’s a brilliant, amazing person, but she is a nervous wreck because of how thin she has worn herself in pursuit of ever-loftier goals. She’s in a perpetual state of exhaustion and burnout, wracked with anxiety and depression, and all of it is self-inflicted.
We all have limited amounts of time and energy to dole out on our various responsibilities and pursuits. When a person tries to take on too much, they achieve mediocre results all around instead of excelling at any of them.
By breaking free of society’s views and expectations of what “success” looks like, more emphasis can be placed on a few small things that are of the utmost importance to us. This allows us to pursue these things with more energy because we’ve held space aside for rest, replenishment, and wonder, instead of focusing our days on results-based expectations.
Final thoughts…
I’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons over the years, and one of the most important ones is how living simply can bring an extraordinary amount of peace. People have so much more free time to create and enjoy the little things in life when they aren’t spending countless hours working to pay for huge expenses, or dusting the hundreds of items cluttering up their homes. Pare down everything in your life to the necessities, prioritize rest and beauty, and you’ll be amazed at how much more joyful (and less exhausting!) your life can be.
