Spend your life living, not having

“Spend your life living, not having” – Matthew Klem, 2015

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A few weeks ago I read an article that said something to the effect about how people spend all of their time and money acquiring “things” when they should be spending it on acquiring experiences. This really struck a chord with me. While driving home from work, I was thinking about this and it just sort of came to me: “Spend your life living, not having”. In a moment of clarity, I realized that for me, I think this has now become my own personal mantra.

Last night me, Tamara, and the kids went down to the cottage and ended up spending quite a bit of time just hanging out on the beach, collecting little critters and enjoying the time outside. We finished the night off with the Canada Day fireworks and went home to crash. Spent very little money but had a great time.

It seems that a lot of people are obsessed with acquisition of “stuff”. The more money you make the more stuff you have. Homes, cars, computers, gadgets, boats, and countless other things that ultimately are nothing more than just a collection of crap to show off. And as the years go by, those things decrease in value. Experiences do not.

You could very easily take the money you spend on those “things” and spend it on fun and interesting experiences. Go on a trip. See the world. Go for a road trip. Explore the world around you. Take your kids to an amusement park, or take them to an ancient city. Go out and experience what there is in the world instead of sitting home, playing on your iPad or XBox, or laying down in front of the TV for night upon night.

I’m extremely lucky in that I get to travel for my work so I make sure that when I do go somewhere interesting, I try and soak up as much of it as possible because those are the memories you take with you. Those experiences are the ones that you can look back on when you’re 80 years old and remember how amazing it felt. If I buy a car today, 40 years from now it will be worthless. But if I save my money and take a trip to Thailand or Antarctica, those are experiences that never get old, and will be with you forever.

When you reach the end of your life, you’ll look back at the things you did and only have regrets about the things you didn’t do. I should have taken that trip around the world. I should have gone skydiving. I should have asked that girl out. I should have done that hike. Even if you make mistakes, it’s better to make them then have regrets later in life when it’s too late.

Enjoy it now and go for it now. If you can’t afford it, save your money, or find another way to make the experiences in your life worth remembering when you’re old.  It’s better to live your life than having a bunch of stuff that will ultimately be meaningless to you in the end.

Spend your life living, not having.