By Seamus Anthony

Are you pretty ambitious?

I am. And it’s okay – some of us are just wired up that way.

But the question struck me the other day – and not for the first time – why?

Is it because you want ‘more’ or because you want ‘less’?

I am willing to place a bet that you often just think about getting more. (It’s okay – so do I.)

If only you had a bit more money.

If only you had a slightly bigger house.

If only you had more time.

If only you had a more exciting career.

If only you enjoyed more health.

Yadda yadda yadda.

But here’s the rub. I was walking the dog other day, through the beautiful mountainous, forested region where I live and suddenly I realized that I was frowning, staring at the ground, going over and over the question: How I can get “more”.

What the fuck?

I should have been looking around! Enjoying a Zen-out walking session!

“Why do you always want more?” I berated myself.

Then Poof!

I realised that the paradoxical reason I always want more is …

Because I want less!

And I bet it’s the same for you.

You want more money so you can spend less time worrying about money, doing your boring job and putting up with nitpicking tossers.

You want a bigger house so you can spend less time feeling like everyone in your household is in your face.

You want more time so you can spend less time doing shit you hate.

You want an exciting career so you can spend less time doing shit you hate.

You want better health so that you can spend less time worrying about your health and perhaps, feeling embarrassed about your appearance.

And this is all well and good. It’s just the way it is.

BUT we must remember that when we get more – it usually doesn’t end up being less. More money brings more responsibility. A bigger house needs more maintenance and cleaning. More health means more exercise.

And so you see: Less actually is more,

…but more isn’t always less.

Enjoy this post? Please sign up for free updates by RSS or email:

Subscribe via RSS reader