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On Comfort and Happiness

8/10/2015

3 Comments

 
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Cup of warm tea and cat napping on your lap. Perhaps one of the few instances where comfort DOES equal happiness. by Christina Betch
I am often uncomfortable living on the river, but I am happy.  I am in pain.  Sitting for so long in one position with a huge bag between my legs is not my favorite.  I have dealt with hordes of mosquitos, biting flies, leeches, sand fleas, and deer flies. I’ve switched out muddy campsites for sandy campsites.  But I am happy.  I feel connected, I feel purpose-driven, I feel satisfied every day. 

I think our culture often confuses comfort with happiness.  “Standard of living” is what drives us.  But why?  We can do with so much less, and I am finding that I am so much happier surrounded by the sounds of lapping water and crickets than I ever have been surrounded by the sounds of city sirens or the tempered air of climate control.  Of course some comforts do provide satisfaction.  My favorite comforts, I have learned, are:

  • Bug-free dwellings
  • Living without a damp, sandy butt
  • Internet
  • Pillow/mattress
  • Dry bedding
  • Warm food, especially when sick, and
  • (Duh) fuzzy buddies to cuddle with.

What are your must-have comforts?  What conveniences do you think you could live without, and do you think it might even make you happier to live without them?

3 Comments
May
8/8/2015 10:20:22 pm

Internet is HUGE! I always think I could live super rustic or back in time except for missing internet. But, a lot of the comforts you mentioned are absence of discomfort, and I think the taste for the absence of each discomfort is acquired as you experience that discomfort and realize how difficult it is, right? Like, I'm sure I would list the comfort of not having my fingernails torn off if I had gone on some adventure where my fingernails were constantly ripped at. Hmm.

I'm going to add, the comfort of fresh produce year round, and produce that wouldn't normally grow where I'm living.

Reply
Brooke
8/9/2015 03:53:42 am

It is said that it takes 28 days to change a habit/a way of being. You are a new you. Already!

Reply
Cari
8/11/2015 01:07:24 am

Burt's Bees chapstick. I can't go anywhere without it (I have it clipped to my keychain) and I'm immediately aware of how dry my whole body has suddenly become if I notice I don't have it. (Like your cranky day where you weren't thirsty until you didn't have water.) I don't think I could live without TV. I think I could do without constant internet, because I'm old enough to remember when tv used to be how you got news and entertainment. But TV vs Burt's Bees...The Bees win every time.

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    Alyssum Pohl is paddling the Mississippi River and documenting water quality and plastic waste along the way.

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