16th Mar - Tokens & Coupons



Yesterday was a wild one... So much so that in the evening, I was grateful for silence, and turned off all electronics in favour of a period of contemplation, burying my head into a glorious 'coffee table book', titled 'Destinations of a Lifetime'. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a 'collector' of these type of books, I think I have around 9 or 10 of them now. All with glossy pages, huge 4K definition photographs of stunning landscapes spread across the paper. But this is a particular favourite, as all the photography inside is via National Geographic, so - as you can imagine - the quality is sensational! 

What I should have been filled with, when looking upon such pages, was a sense of wondrous lust, euphoria, hope, admiration, and amazement, and though those feelings all surfaced at various points, there was also this heavy sense of guilt. That I'd still not managed to visit so many of these destinations. That I'd wasted money over the years on senseless material items like clothes or mobile phones or games consoles. The items which only enrich us in the very short-term, but at the age of 75, nobody looks back and fondly remembers those nights spent scrolling Instagram, or a cheeky pint and a bowl of chips down their local pub.




My partner assured me I was being harsh on myself, but only those who are the toughest critics to their own actions can expect change. If I die tomorrow, I die having yet to marvel at the wonder of Machu Picchu with my own eyes. I've not felt the cobbles of the Great Wall of China beneath my feet. I've touched on this topic countless times before, so I won't bore you with the details, but I think the toughest realisation I possess, as I explained to her last night, is that the meaning of life is to see as much of our planet as fast as we can. Only through making those memories can you achieve REAL authentic happiness, yet so many of us - mistakenly - think we can find a replica of 'happiness' in belongings, or even other people.

The detailing of explanation arrived when I mentioned how we all go through a daily discourse, often stressing ourselves to do so, of working a 'job', whatever that might be. The only reason we work said jobs is to amass 'tokens & coupons' (aka. our wages), to then spend on the very things which will provide us with that happiness... The flights. But you may, dependant on earnings, amass around 3-4 days in a foreign country/new destination for your memory bank, for every 1/2 months worked. I'm not entirely sure that seems like a fair ratio, and now, whenever spending money on any item, I can't help but mentally compare the cost of my purchase to how I could be comparably spending that on a flight. A £30 steak which I'll crap out the next morning? Ooop, that couldn't been a flight to Barcelona. A £100 coat which will gather dust in my wardrobe for 75% of the year? Ooop, there goes that return to Venice. £200 spent on a fancy new aftershave which I'll wash off in the shower tonight, and a pair of trainers which will only get muddied and ruined at the next festival? That's farewell to Istanbul. A £400 Apple Watch which does everything my phone already provides me with? Say goodbye to that trip to South Africa. The eventual satisfaction of your soul depends on one thing, which only arrives with wisdom... 




... How wisely you use, your tokens & coupons.









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