Simplicity - What do you really need?

The fantastic part of a global recession is that it makes us realise what we need, what we want and what we have already. In reflection, we can begin to understand the way in which our 'needs' and 'wants' influence our quality of life and our impact on the environment.

What we need.

Assessing our fundamental needs is an important part of balancing our life. Apart from the obvious needs and 'means' of survival like air, water and food we all have other needs. For some of us these are things like rest and sleep and mental/emotional stimulation like conversation, friendship, reading and laughter. Time to do these things is also a need.

Others would argue that things like exercise, adventure, learning and challenge are fundamental needs in our lives. Exercise, apart from keeping us physically healthy, prompts the release of chemicals in our brain that help us de-stress, dream and process thoughts. Adventure and challenge, in whatever form, keeps our brain active, utilises our abilities (in all their forms) and promotes exploration and self-discovery.

Whatever they achieve, needs offer us some means of maintaining a healthy mind and body.   

What we want - and what we 'really' want.

If therefore, 'needs' offer us some form of life balance- than what do 'wants' offer us and why do we so often see them as more important than our 'needs'- confused? Don’t worry - you’re not the first!

Basically, as soon as we have all our basic needs covered i.e. food, shelter, water etc we would survive fine. However, most of us would probably 'want' to have company in sharing this food, shelter and water; maybe disguised as our 'need' for socialising. Similarly, we could wear any clothes on our own, meet our need of warmth and not be too worried about our appearance; however if this affects our ability to socialise we may begin to 'want' different clothes- in order to socialise.....

Simplicity - What we have already.

My argument is that we can get great satisfaction out of the most simple things in life; which meet our needs and don’t need to cost much. Yes, hard economic times bring us back to basics but maybe then we begin to realise that what we have always 'wanted' is achievable by focusing on our simple needs.
 
Simple solutions to satisfying your needs and not breaking the bank.

Socialising

• Take a walk on the beach with some mates.
• Have a picnic.
• Climb a tree with friends.
• Look at the stars.
• Sleep under the stars.
• Buy a packet of marshmallows and have a campfire with some mates.
• Go walking, camping, tramping, swimming, running, biking, have a game of touch...etc.
• Write a letter- Yep a handwritten one.
• Ring them on the landline, not the cell.
• Start a garden with some mates.
• Have hunter/gatherer dinners with your friends.

Adventure and Challenge

• Think creatively about adventures closer to home.
• Utilise the beach, the river, the sea, tracks and conservation estate in your area.
• Walk, run, kayak or bike to work.
• Take your togs to work and jump in the sea at lunctime!
• Camp on the back lawn with the kids.
• Join a club, sports club, band,drama club or choir closer to home and run your own events - locally.

Learning

• Borrow books from the library - they have a few!
• Talk to people you havent talked to before.
• Ask more questions.
• Write, draw, paint, make, recycle, fix things yourself to see how they work.
• Do a course (lots are free) on bike maintenance, computers etc.

A satisfying, cool, exciting life full of fun, learning and adventure need not cost too much or be too far away - You simply may have it already!!

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