Tuesday, August 5, 2014

On the difference between a makeover and a honeymoon...

Dick Dorworth makes some good points...

Truth is, I'm not real big on advice... Sure, I might point you to places you can read up up on stuff so you have the information you need to make an informed decision but I'm not really that guy who tells you to do shit.

Well... mostly.

The hardest part of getting off the consumerist treadmill and joining the real world of need as opposed to want is just taking that first big step and quit buying stuff while you sort out your need/want regime.

Really. You can always buy more stuff later...

Yesterday I read about a couple who just bought a boat and even before they've taken possesion they're already buying "stuff", having it shipped to the boat, and, I expect, they are adding to the list of needful things to get as I write this.

Now, if it were me who'd just bought a boat I'd go and get to know it a bit before I started making changes, adding stuff, and all the mayhem that comes with making a new to me boat mine. You know, just get to know the boat and let it talk to me and tell me just who she/he is.

Call it a honeymoon...

Find out what works...

Get to know the quirks...

Find what doesn't belong...

What is truly needful...

The funny thing, is while I do not know the new owners of the boat, I actually do know the boat very well. I'm pretty sure the last thing it wants is to have people making changes before she's had a chance to let them know who she is and how she feels. As it happens, I'm pretty sure the boat has some changes it would like/need to make as well as it is something of a one off, a bit special, and very much needs to become what it needs to be.

Of course, they will have to do some work on the boat and stuff will need to be bought but, just maybe, the right work and stuff may not at all be the stuff that they think and, if they listened to the boat, something else entirely.

They just have to listen...

“A designer knows, he has achieved, perfection not when, not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry