Excess

Now that my life has calmed down a bit, I am able to reflect some on my thoughts and reactions to being back in America. My first thought is that it is nice to be able to read and understand everything. In the Netherlands, I am constantly trying to process a sign or what someone is saying. It's harder work on your brain than you might expect!!! It's also very nice to be able to just jump in a WARM car and head off to my destination, without really having to worry about the weather.

There were some other things that hit me right away after arriving home. We live in excess. The way our society is structured leans towards excess.  We have huge houses, big cars, Wal-Mart supercenters, and every gadget we can possibly have to make our life easier. I'm not saying it's all necessarily bad but with more stuff comes more responsibility and more anxiety about keeping up with all the stuff. We've become so dependent on our stuff that we can't fathom a life without it.

People ask me how I survive without a cell phone or a microwave. My response? The same way we did 20 years ago. Admittedly, not having a phone gets annoying and we are going to get one but we will only have 100 minutes a month and a 100 texts. I know that's a shocker considering I was the biggest cell phone addict:)

Life is so fast paced here. There is so much to do, so  many choices, and everything is easily accessible. We are constantly on the go here and don't take the time to really stop and enjoy life.

It's interesting because I think many people think that because the Netherlands isn't structured the way the US is, that it is a third world country. But that's the interesting part. It's not. They have made choices to have their country set up that way. They could put a fast food restaurant on every corner or build supercenters but that is not their way of life. It's not crazy to them to have to go to the store a few times a week or to have to heat their leftovers in an oven or to ride a bike everywhere. It's not weird that a family of 5 might live in a small house with crazy steep steps.

America is all about excess and the school of thought that "if we can, we should". Sometimes this line of thinking leads to great things and amazing life improvements. Other times it leads to anxiety and depression medication because it's just too much to try and keep up. 

I think during this holiday season, where excess gets out of hand, we should really reflect on the simplicity of life and ask ourselves what can be cut away from our own lives to get back to simplicity.