Life Is Built On Experiences

I have a personal quote I often say, “Life is built on experiences.” I use it to remind myself, and those around me, that an interesting and fulfilling life is not created by acquiring stuff.

Most of us go through life collecting stuff. We cling to our possessions because our life lacks deep meaning, a meaning that we need to discover for ourselves and embrace as ours.

If you truly want to live, you need to be directing your resources at experiences, not stuff.

Even I cling to my stuff. I am most certainly a person that likes the creature comforts of life.

I have a friend with shelves upon shelves of unread books, they may bring comfort, but they do not bring knowledge, they do not bring joy, they do not build experiences.

Owning a book is not the same as having read the book. An unread book can impart no knowledge to us. An unread book can impart no story to us. An unread book can impart no information to us. An unread book does nothing for us whilst it remains unread.

I envy people who can travel the world, with nothing more than a backpack. “He who dies with the most toys wins” is the rallying cry of the consumer generation.

It is not possessions that give your life meaning, but our experiences. Much of what I have in my life is either throwaway technology, obsolete in 10 years, or sentimental items I have collected through various life experiences. I could probably dispose of 90% of the items in my home and not notice their absence.

People are astounded that I do not watch TV. “What do you do with all of your free time?” they ask. I do not think the asker understands the question.

You have two resources that you can spend; time and money.

Spending all of your financial resources on video games or DVDs or other trinkets that you do not need, that require ever more space to store them, deprives you of experiencing a whole range of life fulfilling activities.

Spending all of your time resources on surfing the internet, watching television and playing video games deprives you of experiences.

People expend an awful lot of time and money to watch other people doing what they enjoy.

When you direct your resources at experiences that are created rather than manufactured, you will realise that there is a huge world of difference between what you are fed and what you can harvest for yourself.

The difference between manufactured experience, such as found in a theme park, or the cinema, is night and day compared to what you can find by creating your own experiences.

An interesting life of any of significant person in history or current society is not described by their possessions, but by what they do, and what they have done.

When I look back on my life, I reflect on my experiences. What are you looking back on?