Among my previous life with the Four Musketeers, we had one of the team who “wanted” things… all the time !!! But he did not particularly “need” them.
Part of the problem was his new found singular status after a decade of marriage the other was well, we guessed an early onset of mid life crisis !!
My brother, “Porthos” the red haired Musketeer, and I, Aramis (the chubby debonaire Musketeer) would often discuss the subject of needs versus wants, as we watch our friend, D’Artagnan’s life unravel with every dollar spent.
It gets complicated to discuss but pretty much our philosophy was, that in life what we “need” is not always what we “want”, and the same goes vice versa, what we “want” is not always what we “need”.
Okay so that’s simplistic and understated and I’m not just talking about materialistic objects such as laptops and motor bikes and expensive holidays etc. Each of us could definitely put a strong case forward that we really “wanted” something, but the truth is we rarely do truly “need” it.
I have traveled far and wide myself. There was once, about 100 girlfriends ago, when I felt that I wanted to settle down and have a house for the future. I bought it, filled it with furniture and regretted it every day thereafter. For almost ten years all that furniture sat in storage. I eventually owned one of the most expensive sofas in the world thanks to that decade of wasted storage expenditure.
What I realized then was I “need” very little in my transient lifestyle. I have no “need” or “want” really for expensive furnishings or lavish lifestyles, because I’ll be the first to tell you…I won’t be here long enough to enjoy any of it.
But it’s not even about travel or eventual demise, its really just that I don’t desire to spend hard earnt salary on materialistic objects. You just can not take this stuff with you so why collect it all.
Unless of course you are Tutekhamun !! Now that was quite the collection.
Anyway, I digress yet again.
My reference here is about more than furnishings.
It’s about love, jobs and everything in between.
You see, there is more than “Needs” and “Wants”; there is also “Challenge”, the unstated human element .
You see , ask yourself the following questions;
Do you want to fall in love…not really !!
Do you need to fall in love…who says ..right ?
So why do we?
Partly it’s because of the challenge of it all. To see if we can in fact woo another party into our lives? To see IF we can live together? To see if we really make a couple or just two people cohabitating with each other?
And then there’s work ?
Did we ever want to change jobs…. not really!
Did we ever need to change jobs…. Not at all!!
So why!
It was because of the challenge.
The challenge inside of us to prove to self that we still have it ,within us , to do it. To seek a higher plane of understanding and to prove that we’re not that old yet and still can mix it with the young guns of our industry.
Complacency is an easy evil to befriend. “Challenge” on the other hand, is a friend we should all seek out and find, to remind ourselves that we are infact “ALIVE”. Challenge in life heightens our senses and reminds us that we can indeed do anything that we desire.
You may not “Need” to be out of your depth, you may feel that you do not “want” it either.
But let me tell you from experience; to “challenge” yourself, is to find yourself. To awaken that fire that burns within, that flickered close to going out for sometime, and it reminds you, who is truly important to you in the world……….YOU ARE !!!
Live long my friends, Prosper and go get ‘em …
I challenge you !!
 |
| Don't foget those people reading this in Bahrain to pick up your copy of Bahrain This Month magazine at a retailer near you for more on James Claire's perspectives on life and a whole host of other news and features. And everyone else, read us online at (http://www.bahrainthismonth.com/) |
No comments:
Post a Comment