The child looks to the adult to learn about the world.

The adult looks to the child to forget about the world.

It is ironic that children can’t wait to grow up, thinking that adults somehow represent the high point of creative freedom. A short immersion in the world of work finds the adult looking back wistfully to simpler times.

You’ve probably heard that “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” This is probably one of the wisest truisms that we all know yet don’t understand until it’s too late. The further we immerse ourselves in the world of adulthood the harder it is to return to simpler means.

Is this why we want children of our own? Are we hoping to re-live what we’ve given up through the feelings and actions of our offspring? There are moments of pure joy to be experienced with our children. Along with this gift of life comes a greater burden. We become responsible for the health and well-being of another being, one who is entirely dependent upon us for many years.

Add to this all of the other requirements we’ve taken on as adults and it’s easy to become overwhelmed, even to the point of losing hope for the future. Is there a way out, a saner approach?

At some point we’ll want to change direction. Since birth we’ve been on a track towards more. We’ve sought greater freedom, more responsibility, larger homes, better this and that. Eventually we are in debt to our lifestyle and our possibilities diminish. The way back to sanity is to seek less, not more.

To say it another way, to have more free-time we need less obligation. Greater alternatives necessitate fewer commitments. More time for play leaves less time for work. A child’s life is rather simple, at least until they’ve adopted the mindset of the adult, the need for more and better.

I used to own a lot of stuff. One day I realized that it owned me. I was in debt to the needs and demands of my stuff. For the past five years I’ve been letting it go. Each time I realize the things I held onto aren’t as important as I thought when I’d decided to keep them. So every few months my burden becomes lighter.

Yes, there are still more things I want, greater experiences I’d like to have. The only difference is now I want them because of what I want to experience, as opposed to what I want to own. And real freedom is one of the things I want to experience most often. And that comes with less, not more.