Just a thought

It feels like an eternity since I gave up smoking and today I sat there wondering why I gave up. Was it for health reasons??? I seem to be coughing more, I've started to use my asthma pump more than I have in years and I have put on the weight I had recently lost... I must say I don’t feel healthier for it yet.

This got me thinking about society and the pressures we face daily to conform or not to conform, do we ever seem to rid ourselves of the school yard term "peer group pressure"?Society tells us it's unhealthy to smoke and that the cost of smoking is huge when you consider the health issues that it creates yet they still put more money into the fear based marketing in attempt to scare us out of our addiction than into researching alternatives to the poisons contained in the product or education programs at schools.

I then started to bombard myself with questions and issues. At school some kids learn to hate sports when the sport of choice is one they may not be so good at causes them to be teased and put down by the school yard jock. The teachers tend to call this "character building" I call it discrimination, why not have a variety of exercise choices that kids learn so that they can all have the opportunity to find one they like... yoga, aerobics etc etcWe are all taught to study hard, get good grades and find a well paying job so that we can enjoy life.

Today I was walking up puckle street and passed a group of 20 something’s at a cafe' arguing and bitching about how one of them had their dole payment cut back by the government and he could now not afford his new jacket for this weekends party... another talking about the 3 clubs she went to on the weekend and how trashed she got.I took a good hard look at these kids all dressed in their top brand clothes (each one with the pricey brand showing) sipping their latte's and short blacks laughing/bitching and having a good time whilst I slowly dragged my carcass back to the office for another 4 hours shackled to my desk.

Normally this type of scenario angers most people and they tend to make comments like "those bludgers are spending my hard earned tax on having a good time" I too have made similar comments but not today. Today as I wandered into work I thought... Are they just saying NO to the peer group pressure, going against the grain? Maybe they're the ones we should be following and getting back to basics (yes for those thinking logically... I know if we all went on the dole the 3d world would go to shit) What if they have got it right?

I really thought about my life for a moment. I’m 31 and have an enormous debt, I got this debt through various credit cards, interest free, bank loans and gambling... all the things that employment allows for us to afford, but when the employment stops... the interest does not... so you take another loan, you get another job you consolidate and start again. Would things have been different if you were never able to get your fist credit card?

So we get a job, we get stressed about money, we hope to get paid well and that each year we get our cost of living increase or maybe if we’re lucky a promotion or a better paying job. We get annoyed at the ever increasing petrol prices and the $100 shopping docket we hold for the single bag of groceries. Before we know it we're 65 and scared shitless that the kids are not going to look after us or worse... that they will not be able to afford to look after us.

society travels like this day in and day out and I wonder... have the kids at the café got it all worked out?Don’t get me wrong, my journey has been my journey and I don’t regret my past as its made me who I am today... but today I wondered what if we just said "NO MORE" could you live with what you have? Could you be happy knowing you don’t need to have a house and car to be wealthy? Is it the stresses of every day life that keep it all interesting?

I for one would be very happy living on a small self sufficient farm (well as self sufficient as possible). To wake up in the morning in my cosy warm toasty bed (with or without a significant other) knowing that I will be spending my day tending to the animals and the vegi garden, cooking the day’s meals, head into town to trade for the essentials, have a stand at some of the farmers markets, maybe work a part time job of choice (if needed) to pay for the essentials (I don’t think I could wipe with gum leaves) and most of all live a simple life with the challenges I create for myself.