Experiences not things

by | Jul 6, 2013 | Tales from my life, Travel | 6 comments

I covet things as much as the next person. Who doesn’t? However, I get worn down by the constant drive to acquire something new; the heavy desire for stuff we don’t need. And, even worse, don’t value. Ultimately, things don’t motivate me. Experiences do.

I would much rather use my time, energy and resources to cultivate an interesting and enjoyable experience – seeing / doing / eating / drinking – than collect a thing I don’t need or appreciate.* My life is cluttered enough, so I like to keep it as simple as I can.

At the moment I’m in the midst of an exceptionally nice experience: travel. I’m writing this from Reykjavik, where we’re finishing up a magical week in Iceland. Before that we were in Germany, with an oh-so-brief sojourn into Holland. I have been sharing some of the journey on Instagram#, but not too often, as I haven’t had much internet access. Plus I’ve been happy to disengage for a while.

A few highlights so far:

baden baden

This view

greenhouse pool

Discovering a geothermal swimming pool within a large greenhouse, growing all sorts of delicious fruits and berries.

hotpot

Natural hotsprings, just a short walk from our accommodation (a cutesy Icelandic farmstay).

I have a few good posts up my sleeve from this trip. On local food and herbal medicine finds, geothermal bathing (something we have, literally, immersed ourselves in while in Iceland) and the abundance of organics (particularly in Germany). However, those will have to wait until I’m back, as we’re about to head to Paris – the whole ‘point’ of this trip – for a big research and practice conference. Plus, you know, Paris.

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* Not that my life is stuff-free. Not by any means.

# I’ve been tagging a lot of my travel pics on Instagram using #experiencesnotthings – check it out and start tagging too if it’s something that resonates with you.