living in the past

The truth is there is no "now" as its already gone by the time you perceive it. So in some ways we are all "living in the past".

I'm a little more selective about my moving forward, I guess that I always have been, for I sift through the present and discard what I'm not interested in taking on board.

For instance I still drive my 1989 model 4x4 (and keep it in tidy shape), because I just don't think that spending $50,000 on a new one will bring me to those places or carry my camping gear any better. I doubt they'll even use much less fuel.

Yet I've incorporated pieces of modernity as I go along (sometimes at the regret of lost functionality of older units). Digital cameras, laptops, phones ... sometimes I'm way behind the curve, other times I see a new thing and leap on it (like my move to micro43rds back in 2009 when noone even said "mirrorless" yet).

One of the benefits of living in the past is that its actually quite cost effective. The money I save on not having to have the "latest and greatest" means that I can either save more or work less to live a comfortable life. In fact I've been doing a little of both lately (saving more so that in the coming years I can work much less).

I've always found that a life balance where I get to enjoy my life while I'm able to enjoy it has been enjoyable, satisfying and fruitful (in terms of the things in life which bring joy but money can't buy).

Living in the past does however require some skills ... ability to do for yourself what you would have thought of paying for. When you are time rich you can save more money than you can earn (after tax) in a year by just "stitching in time to save nine".

ponder it ...