Tune in – to yourself, turn on…

To a little less materialism, and drop out of at least the worst of the capitalist rat race. In additional to not leveraging your mortgage or your bank account, you also might be avoiding leveraging your spirit or your sanity.

I've decided that there are other things besides money that matter to me, and that make a certain level of vulnerability worth it. I value my flexibility, my independence, my time with the kids, my ability to go off on adventures, more than deep financial pockets and the brand of slavery that those deep pockets would require.

There is no way I would want to trade places with folks who have accumulated the trappings of wealth on the back of debt. It would feel desolate to live in a house of cards and feel the walls start to collapse around me. No thanks.

I agree in spades.

That said, Alan Kesselheim does admit this all has a flip side. Read the full column.

Too personal?

A friend was caring enough to ask if I wasn’t worried about being too personal with some of my recent posts. She meant that not in the sense of worrying that I might upset someone not used to hearing about a family life far, far short of Ozzie and Harriett, but whether I shouldn’t be concerned about somebody using this against me.

The somewhat longer answer, expanding on what I told her, is that I haven’t gone into too many details; there’s still “layers” I have kept personal.

The psychological answer? No, those layers are protected by boundaries. But, in doing this, I believe I am converting what once were “walls” into boundaries. Beyond that, this is part of an intense cycle of emotions, and attendant possibilities for personal growth. That includes working through fears as well as other emotions. And, there is at least a bit of education in this for friends and other readers who don’t “flinch.”

The short answer, as to those people who might try to “use” these more personal posts?

No.

Those people, especially as I work through fears, anxieties, longings, yearnings and more, and share carefully selected parts of that in public, have less and less possibility of having any real power over me. That, too is part of my potential gain. Beyond that, anybody who would do that, including people who have in essence tried to “smear” me with other information already on this blog (former school superintendents and others know who they are) have already demonstrated a lack of spiritual, personal, and psychological depth and integrity anyway, and have failed, besides that.