Embrace Life

Posting the video "Embrace Life" is in no way an endorsement or a recommendation of any other youtube video that may be displayed at the end of "Embrace Life".

My Extravagant Imagination

It would be wonderful to have a lifestyle in which I no longer need to work full time in a job I don’t enjoy. Part of the (romanticised) appeal of self-sufficiency and frugality is to have more freedom to explore the things that interest me, providing an avenue to do something creative. But straight away I hit a problem – my imagination and its creative urges are not exactly frugal in nature.

What do I mean? Well let me point out some of the creative (and other) pursuits in which I’d love to indulge.

Music. For years I’ve wanted to play the fiddle. I have a large collection of recorded fiddle/violin music, mainly folk and traditional but including a little classical. I love the sound of the instrument and the variety of sounds and styles that it can create. A cheap “students” fiddle seems to cost a couple of hundred dollars but on top of that I would need lessons; but would it be worth it when I wouldn’t have anywhere to use those newly learned skills on a regular basis? I’m also not so sure I’d be satisfied with a student’s instrument. I’d want something a little classier that could double as a decorative item at home when not at use.

Astronomy. I’d love to have a decent telescope and a very dark place to use it. Unfortunately my house is exposed to a lot of artificial lighting from a nearby hospital car park so finding a good clear unpolluted spot isn’t easy. Also those decent telescopes can be very expensive. I still kick myself for not taking advantage of a very good discount being offered by Australian Geographic several years ago when I could have got a very good telescope for around half price. It even had an inbuilt computer to make the finding of stars and planets much easier. It was still expensive, but far more affordable than at full price.

Glass. Gloria has been collecting pieces of art glass for a while now and I’ve been trying to find out more about Australian Glass artists. We’ve visited the studios of some local glass artists and the creative process is fascinating and varied. From slumped glass, utilising a kiln and moulds to hot glass in which molten glass is blown or rolled into required shapes the results can be stunning.
It’s the kind of artwork I’d love to try for myself, but I’m sure the costs of setting up would be enormous. Not the kind of thing you could start on a whim.
Some glass artists offer short classes and the Glass Works in Canberra gives the beginner the opportunity to make their own paperweight or glass beads.
But returning to my extravagant imagination, I would not be satisfied with the short term solution of using someone else’s equipment. My dream would be to have my own studio and creating masterpieces that can be sold for a fortune. Definitely not practical – but that’s why I’ve been writing about an extravagant imagination instead of an extravagant reality.

Trying to slow down, but who cut the brakes?

I am continually being challenged by the need to simplify my life and slow down the pace. Yet every step I take towards this goal seems to be redirected and I find myself in the same situation that I was trying to escape, and my life remains as complicated as ever.

This is true of so many different areas of life. I have been trying to establish a veggie garden to reduce reliance upon commercial food production. Not only should this reduce the cost of food, it is intended to increase the freshness and flavour of the food we eat. But the desired reduction of cost doesn’t seem to be working. Creating and maintaining a vegetable garden seems to be very expensive.
A few years ago I moved from the city to a country town, hoping to maintain a more frugal, less job-dominated life. I worked out that I could easily earn enough money from part time employment to sustain a simplified lifestyle. Yet despite my intentions I could only find fulltime work and have been unable to realise the hoped for slower pace.

Full time work has also had other effects. Once again I’ve become used to receiving a “full time” salary, and it seems like my lifestyle has moulded itself to fit the incoming funds. I can no longer imagine how I could survive without that income when there’s a shed to build, a bathroom to renovate, an evaporative air conditioner to replace, ceilings to repair and paint, gardens to complete… There’s always something else that needs money. And note I haven't yet mentioned all of those other things required to decrease my "ecological footprint".

It would seem ideal to be able to live a more self-sustaining lifestyle, but one thing I’ve noticed is that self-sufficiency is a very expensive business as can be seen from the example of so many who are trying to move in that direction. Even with Government rebates, people are spending a fortune on water tanks, grey water irrigation systems, solar panelling and who knows what other technologies that are "essential" for a simpler, less damaging way of life. Clearly the “ideal” does not come cheaply and I suspect it may be another consumerist con; this time targeting those with a social conscience.