Acknowledging The Struggle, Part II

I'm back in Upstate after my three week excursion to Montana.  My nursing program starts in a month so I have a few weeks to finish up some odds and ends, as well as get our new Farmers' Market off and running.

Returning to my post a few weeks ago, I realize that part of the struggle that I and others face in terms of wanting to live simply and fully is that we also enjoy the perks of our modern, consumerist world.  I enjoy going out for a romantic dinner at a fancy-schmancy restaurant with my husband.  I enjoy traveling to exotic places and being pampered. Sometimes I even dream of living like royalty on a permanent basis. I am thankful that I am able to purchase a vehicle when mine dies; I'm thankful that my husband and I own an old farmhouse and several acres of land.  I'm thankful I can run out to the 24 hour supermarket if I am in dire need of some item.  I do enjoy the convenience of all of these.

So how did I get to this place where I enjoy extravagant experiences and nice "stuff"?  Are we, as humans, somehow born with a need to always want more?  Is it a completely learned behavior?  If I had never experienced any of this growing up, would I still yearn for it now?

But more importantly, is there a way to reconcile living simply with enjoying extravagance from time to time?  It sounds so oxymoron-ish to me.   I struggle with this on a daily basis.  Today, I'm satisfied with the plywood countertops and painted plywood floors of my kitchen; tomorrow I know I will want a full kitchen remodeling job so it looks like something out of Country Living.  And don't get me started on the fencing!  Our horse-tape on T-posts fencing is certainly suitable, but then I gaze longingly at the farm up the hill where they've had miles of real wood posts and high tension cable and rail fencing professionally installed.  I know, I know...I shall not covet my neighbor's fences!

Does it require a huge down-payment of time and energy (and complication) to get everything in order to ultimately live simply?  I know this is not the case because there are many, many people who just say "to hell with it" and take themselves right off the grid.  But I can't do that.  I am too tied into the system at this point in my life to cut all connections; I wouldn't feel safe or comfortable doing so.   I am therefore going to have to accept this tension and hopefully learn how to create some positive synergy from these two opposing forces.

Happy Monday everybody!