Money, Freedom and the Art of Happy Living

	It’s time to come to the topic of downshifting which plays an important role in any strategy to get happy! What is meant by downshifting? Well, basically what it says:
(Why not be the lady in the back once in a while and let others row if they want to?)

For a moment step back and see your life and your potential as a car. OK, now everybody is imagining himself a fancy racing-car with shiny bumpers (whereas some of us might be more like a trucks or a middle-class commuter car, or a heavy-duty family station wagon…but that’s all right).

So, imagine the car running at the top of its maximum speed for all the time, years and years. This might be fast and funny, and it might seem adventurous at first: Life rushes by, things are moving, money comes in, careers are made.

But now time goes by, hours, days, weeks, months pass all at max speed. What happens? First, our car will eat away gasoline like crazy. Then it starts to wear off. Eventually the concentration of the driver will diminish. When traffic gets thicker it really gets dangerous, and the likelihood of a severe accident is suddenly a real threat! One moment of distraction, and our car might come off course, sliding heavily or even crush into something unexpected.

And that’s what’s happening to an ever full-power life as well. After the first thrill, you will lose concentration. You will burn up your energy, your body will start to wear of, your health will be affected and when times get tough you might lack additional resources and things might get really dangerous for you.

So consider well your speed!

I don’t say you have to creep along like a snail on the highways of life, letting everybody overtake you right and left. But again, the middle way seems intelligent:
Shift down to a moderate gear in general. Do put in a race every now and then if you feel like some thrill, but don’t run on high speed all the time!
This way you will not burn our quickly, you will easily catch up with the hectic fellows a bit later, you will be able to concentrate and stay on track for a much longer time.

Some people will say you are selfish, but thats wrong. It's them who are selfish. Because they will be the ones with the burn-outs, the heart-attacks and the need for extensive care within 10 or 20 years time, when you will still be independent and happily kickin'!

This is important.

Because life is not a sprint - It's a marathon.

Cheers,
Woodpecker

Those days with all the financial crisis stuff and what not, it might be a rare confession, but I admit:

I am one of those these days rare "European"- feeling guys on this continent. Well, hopefully we are not too few after all...because, hey, despite all troubles, this continent is a great one and it is going to stay around for quite some while - so why not stay friends after all?

Anyway, actually the viewing angle of this blog will often be from a German or European point of view. Reason is that I am living here and most of my personal experience originates in Germany or Europe. At the same time there seems to be a lack of blogging activity and general media coverage of the art-of-living- and downshiftig- topic , at least in Germany and to my knowledge also in most other countries here in Europe (always happy to hear about other activity, though!), whereas many of the blogs I see in that direction are coming from the US.

However I decided to write in (bad) English, because as you know the language spoken most in the world is bad English and I deliberately want to keep the discussion open for those of you who are non-German readers and learn about the input you might have.

But for those folks not so happy writing in English: German posts are warmly welcome as well, so go ahead! If I really concentrate I can also read a bit of French and Spanish, but don’t expect too much langue skills from me there ;)

Have a nice day,
Woodpecker

A nice day at the beach.
Waves are splashing, the sky is blue, a nice breeze is cooling the summer heat. You are sitting in an arm chair, listening to some good music on your mp3-player, reading a magazine or a good book.
There suddenly you are interrupted by a humming sound coming from your beach-bag!

It is your Blackberry, and while you try to keep on reading you think by yourself it could be very very important and it might be absolutely necessary that you react IMMEDIATELY, because if you don’t, your employer will go bust the other day, or even worse the economy of your country will instantly fall apart.
So you try to resist for a moment, you try to re-concentrate on the surf and the sun, but your relaxation is gone and 10 seconds later you grab the Blackberry and hectically open your post-box.
But it was only a colleague, sending a mail @all to ask if anyone wants to join for lunch.

Ah, Relax again....

...but 10 minutes later, same humming, same game.

This time it's your boss, apologizing only very briefly for contacting you in your well earned holidays, but it is VERY important.

...Relaxation gone.

You spend the rest of the day sending eMails, trying to remember if you messed up something and trying to calm down your girlfriend or wife who complains about you working in holidays.
Necessary?

Your employer might say YES:

This is a helpful and so-modern device, and you as a flexible, dynamic, so-modern young employee should use it to your own benefit, you stay updated and you don’t miss out.

I say its bullshit:

This is a modern type of ball and chain or shackle (Fussfessel), binding you to your work even in your well deserve some spare time. It's dragging you like Sauron’s Ring the ring-wraths in their sleepless death.
It forces you to never sleep and never rest without a spark of duty lingering still in your head. It ties you to the machine and keeps you in the middle of the rat-race with the most simple trick: Pretending it's for your own best. And pretending it underpins your Status and your Importance.

I tell you:

Get rid of this shackle and let others feel important!

If you are an employee most likely you are not important. But tell you what? It's great not to be important! Accept it and benefit from that fact! Because that means you can enjoy the sun and the company will not go bust, the world will not end if you cannot be reached by your employer. Forget about your employer when you are in holidays and look for somthing or somebody you are really important for.

I am resisting a Blackberry since I was first offered one 6 years ago by my then-boss. And you know what? It's great! When I am travelling for my company I can concentrate on my task, I don’t get distracted and annoyed by stuff happening at home. If I am in a meeting I listen, and if everybody else gets bored and starts typing on their blackberries, I still could join in and pull out my private cell-phone and play a game (which really is the same thing in the end).

I don't feel important, but I don't feel stressed either.

And when I am in holiday! Ahhhh…I enjoy the sun and the sound of the waves...!

Have fun,
Woodpecker