Living the life, DIY

by Adam Ben-Aron (@MyCityLives)

So I’m sure as everyone knows, writing something from scratch is often harder than it seems, but then again, so are most things worth doing. As I sit here beside my BBQ/smoker (first time use, yay) “it” hit me.  Doesn’t it just taste better when you do (cook) it yourself??  Whether it comes to food or building something, I’ve always enjoyed making things that I get to benefit from/share with others.  Coming to this realization has really made me think about what Taylor wrote a month ago about the significance of money or lack thereof.  I can’t think of the last time I enjoyed anything (by myself at least) I bought as much as something I created/made/built.  Now, I’ve never spent a large sum of money on a house or on a really nice car, but I’m guessing that based on my buying experiences, they probably won’t match  the enjoyment achieved from smoking a pork shoulder all afternoon with a beer in the sun.

So how does all this relate to killing the recession you ask, well it doesn’t in the way I’m thinking about it.  I’m not saying you should DIY to save money because times are tough.  I wanted to see who else out there enjoys taking on a project that you could pay someone else to do. Not because you’re cheap, but because creating something and learning a new skill makes you happy.  Now I know there are some programmers/hackers out there that know exactly what I’m talking about, but I’m really curious to know who else out there does “projects” or takes educational classes for pure enjoyment. Who here’s taking the time to smell the roses.

I read an article recently from Freakonomics and it explained that as countries get richer the people are happier. However it was on a decreasing scale, meaning that as Juan in Colombia doubles his income from $1000 to $2000 dollars a year it would give him the same boost of satisfaction as Sue doubling her income from $200,000 to $400,000 in Canada.  So basically this means there is a diminishing return in what money can do for your happiness.  This concept is really interesting when you think about it.  It might help explain why countries with nothing suffer from depression less than countries with a lot.

So maybe we should be spending more time doing what we like rather than trying to accumulate wealth… But enough of that, I really just wanted to make sure that everyone is taking the time to do what matters to them.  I know recessions are a good time to learn a valuable skill (get a new degree) or start a business. But I really want to know who out there is learning something for the sake of learning something, not because they think it will get them ahead.

Simple thoughts from a simple man I suppose.

EDIT: I also found this, which I thought backs up what I’m talking about.  Doing things is what makes us happy, not buying things. So go out and do/explore something new.