Unfortunately ……. growth does not happen while we stay settled in our comfort zone. Risk, new discovery, surprises, breaking our pattern, and even tragedy (unfortunately), THESE are the things that stimulate growth. Change, steady change is what builds ones character. We humans fear change, but we need it in order to keep our sense of purpose.
With that being said, lets make it our personal mission to make a point every week to do something we have never done before. Something risky, something new, something that makes our blood boil. Now these things don’t have to be big every time, but they should make us sweat a little.
It is THESE experiences, that are part of the “Value added” part of our lives.
I had an interesting experience in taking my daughter to a little video arcade recently (in a mall). For the first time ever, I was patroning a completely automated arcade. I was fascinated at the idea. There was not an employee/associate in the entire place.
Like many arcades, it had a currency system by which players of the games earn tickets that they could trade in later for prizes. However when we desired to do just that, the prizes were kept in a sorta vending machine, at which we would enter the tickets in a slot and then key in the prize slot ID we desired (ya know …. like a vending machine).
I appreciated the efficiency of it. Perfect minimization. As much as I am a proponent of human interaction/connection, I appreciated the efficiency of this system. It never occurred to me before, but an arcade is the perfect “walk-in” business to be neigh staff-less. All that is required is an owner to come in after close, clean up, maintain, collect the profits, do the books, ……… and that’s about it. On occasion he may need to call a technician to fix a machine or two.
……… Then something happened. Two things actually. First, my daughter won 100 TICKETS playing one of the games, but before the game dispensed said tickets, it froze. We were stiffed. THEN later, when we went to the prize machine to cash in all the tickets she earned, the machines mechanics stalled, thus robbing her of the prize. Of course those tickets/points were still deducted from her total anyway …….. stiffed again. And remember, there are NO EMPLOYEES, so there was no-one we could even go to about these issues. I suppose we could have complained at the mall front desk and eventually got redemption if we pushed the matter, but it’s just not worth it.
So it is, that even in a seemingly clear case of “perfect full automation”, human interaction is required. In this day and age, we still need at least one human person there supervising an arcade to help customers.
We humans almost instinctively feel the need to bring that which gives us pleasure, joy, closer to us. It is the reason why we expand our living space, our home. We want to bring all the things we like together in one place, in a controlled environment. A safe environment.
Want to go swimming? Instead of a lake/beach trip, get a pool.
Want to have a cookout? Forget the local park, put a grill in the backyard.
Like to play games? Forget the local arcade, pool hall, and bowling alley. Bring games to the home in the form of video game consoles, pool table, ……. there is a home version of everything.
Exercise? ….. meh. We’ve got a treadmill at home.
Having all the things you like to do in one controlled place is convenient, …. so yeah ….. I get that. Is it safer?…… of course it is, because it’s in a controlled environment.
The problem with a controlled environment however, is that nothing new ever happens. Everything happens exactly as we planned, and we are not exposed to anything new. The experiences are always the same. How long can we expect to have the same cookout, in the same environment, with the same people, and continue to grow as people. We want everything we do to be in a safe, controlled environment (controlled by us), but expect to become more cultured, more rounded people. This is a contradiction, clearly.
So the price we pay for convenience, control, and security, is lack of exposure. Which in the end means lack of growth.
If we are to grow as people we need to get out of the house, try new things, have new experiences, meet new people. The stranger and more awkward for us, the better, as there is much more learning potential outside our comfort zone.
A Minimalist feels no desire for a big backyard, because a Minimalist is open enough to new adventures, new experiences, to believe that the entire world IS their backyard. Limiting ones self to the experiences they can fit in their personal plot of land is small minded thinking, and perhaps a tad bit paranoid.
Big property -> small mind.
Small property -> open mind.
We can never have much growth being exposed only to what we permit in our backyards just because IT IS CONTROLLED BY US. We can only grow as people when we are in situations where we DON’T have control of our situation. It’s the only time we are learning anything new.
Unfortunately ……. growth does not happen while we stay settled in our comfort zone. Risk, new discovery, surprises, breaking our pattern, and even tragedy (unfortunately), THESE are the things that stimulate growth. Change, steady change is what builds ones character. We humans fear change, but we need it in order to keep our sense of purpose.
