Parking lot thoughts

37, male, Texas. I just found this chamber and have been reading through the archives a bit.<br><br>I think there’s a lot of good in this philosophy but the way I live is in complete contrast to this.<br><br>I’ve had a lot on my mind the last few days and decided to go out for a drive. I pulled over and wrote a few things down I’d like to share.<br><br>A couple of observations<br><br>The only reason I can afford to pursue personal goals like this is because I have a lot of things to fall back on. I have three cars, a house, I live in a developed country with dozens of opportunities to find work and support myself. I’ve been disappointed by the advice on this website to “just quit your job and move to the mountains.” That’s not how it works in most of the world. You have to be really privileged to do that. If you feel comfortable enough to pursue this I wish you the best.<br><br>I grew up with two brothers, a single mom, and no father. We didn’t have much at all. There were some times we barely had food. I’m not sure what this means for me or what the solution is, but the first thing we did when I got out of school was buy a house and several cars. I don’t think a minimalist lifestyle is very realistic for the underprivileged<br><br>These are the things on my mind right now<br><br>I’m pensively driving around San Antonio and I’m looking at a lot of traffic. I’m thinking about all of the people in these cars and the amount of waste and stress this is causing. I’m thinking about all the infrastructure we need to support dozens of people driving their own cars everywhere. There’s dozens of parking lots and gas stations and the streets are packed<br><br>The next thing I’m thinking about is how stressed I get about the smallest things. I’m thinking about my job, I’m thinking about how close my retirement savings is to my net worth. I’m thinking about my relationships and how much money I’m spending keeping up appearances and using subscription services<br><br>Then I get to the grocery store. I’m thinking about all the intricate infrastructure required to transport food from other countries and keep them fresh at dozens of grocery stores across the city. I’m thinking about how much money I’m spending on food every month<br><br>From there I go to a park. I’m seeing a lot of trash everywhere. As far as I can tell, this park was a forest with a river for a long time until we destroyed it. I’m seeing a few homeless people. I’m thinking about all the money the city is spending on these parks and dozens of other parks in the city<br><br>I start driving some more and I open Google maps. I’m trying to zoom out to see how far away things are. I realize that I have the entire city at my fingertips. I’m thinking about how much infrastructure and resources are dedicated to providing me with the universal choice of what to do on any given night. There are opportunities to go out to dozens of restaurants or bars, or stay home and have hundreds of channels to choose from, or dozens of other activities I could have never imagined<br><br>I start thinking about my net worth, which I’m really proud of. As of the last few days it’s about $700,000. I open an investment app I use and the net worth of the top ten richest people on earth is 1.6 trillion, which is roughly 200 times my net worth. I’m thinking about all the differences between how the rich live versus the poor, and how many people in between there are<br><br>Reading through the archives I’m seeing a lot of articles from the New York Times and forbes where they talk about how wealth compounds and the rich only get richer. I’m seeing a few articles from vice where they talk about how horrible consumerism is and the effect it’s having on dozens of other countries<br><br>I’m thinking about my ex-girlfriend, who was pretty materialistic and when we broke up she called me a hippy for wanting to live so frugally. On the other hand, I was reading an article from vice talking about how horrible it is that Americans are taking advantage of cheap labor in China and other countries. There was a sentence in the article saying “It only takes a little bit of money to live comfortably in Cambodia”<br><br>It seems like a lot of people in this chamber live in developed countries and consider themselves beneath the wealthy. They’re saying things like<br><br>“Everyone on earth should have a Lamborghini to drive to the grocery store in”<br><br>Or<br><br>“The median wage in America should be higher so that the poor can afford the basic necessities of life”<br><br>But I’m thinking about the fact that I live in a developed country and have dozens of opportunities I only have because I’m in a privileged position. On top of my privilege, I have hundreds of thousands of dollars at the age of 37. That’s wealth beyond anything the vast majority of the world has ever seen. I don’t even feel like I “deserve” this kind of privilege, so many dozens of other people have had their circumstances ruined by war or lack of access to clean water or the fact that they live in a poor country.<br><br>I feel like I live a comfortable life, but I’m still not happy. Sometimes I’m stressed and I feel like I don’t have enough. I’m thinking about the fact that this mentality exists across the board, where everyone is never satisfied with their current circumstances and feels like they deserve more.<br><br>I open a real estate app and I’m zooming out until I can see the entire country. I’m thinking about how much infrastructure is required to support this entire country, and all the waste and pollution and negative externalities it causes. I’m thinking about the fact that this is a universal attitude across the board, from the rich to the poor, dozens of other countries, corporations. I’m thinking about the idea of infinite growth, where the standard of living for everyone will only keep increasing at an exponential rate. I’m seeing the graphs that show exponential functions grow at an increasing rate over time, where the value starts low but then skyrockets. I’m thinking about how the world is going to sustain this for hundreds of years<br><br>These are the thoughts I have, I’m not sure how to deal with them or what the solution is. I’m thinking of moving to a developing country and trying to live in a more minimalist way.