0:13 taking advantage of another day to talk
0:16 about a simple life. About this idea
0:18 that seems absurd when you say it out
0:20 loud, but that might be the smartest
0:23 decision you can make. There's a man who
0:26 lived more than 150 years ago who
0:27 understood this in a way most people
0:30 still don't understand today. His name
0:33 was Henry David Thorough. And in 1845,
0:35 he did something everyone thought was
0:37 insane. He went to live in a simple
0:39 cabin near a lake with almost nothing
0:41 just to discover what was truly
0:44 essential to live well. And look, he
0:45 wasn't running away because he'd failed
0:48 in life. He wasn't angry at the world.
0:50 He was testing a hypothesis. Does having
0:52 less bring more freedom than having
0:55 more? The answer he found should change
0:57 everything we think about happiness and
1:00 success? Because the truth is, we spend
1:02 our entire lives accumulating things we
1:05 don't need, chasing goals we didn't
1:07 really choose, proving our worth to
1:09 people we barely know. And in the middle
1:11 of all this rushing around, we forget to
1:13 ask the most basic question. What
1:15 exactly am I doing all this for? Why am
1:18 I running so hard? Where am I going? And
1:20 most importantly, who decided that's
1:23 where I should be going? But before
1:25 diving into what Theorough discovered, I
1:26 need to talk about the place where you
1:29 are right now. about this trap we're all
1:31 stuck in without realizing it. Modern
1:33 life has a very subtle way of sucking
1:36 your attention, your time, your energy,
1:39 and making you believe this is normal.
1:41 That everyone lives like this, so it
1:44 must be right. Think with me. You wake
1:46 up in the morning and what's the first
1:48 thing you do? You grab your phone.
1:50 Before you even feel your own body
1:52 waking up, you're already absorbing
1:55 notifications, messages, emails, other
1:58 people's problems. Your mind hasn't even
2:00 properly awakened and it's already being
2:02 bombarded with dozens of external
2:04 demands. And this seems so normal, so
2:06 automatic that we don't even question it
2:09 anymore. But is it really normal? Is
2:11 waking up and the first thing you do
2:13 being to dive into other people's
2:16 problems healthy? Does this serve you or
2:18 do you serve it? During breakfast, if
2:20 you even have time for that, you're
2:22 already planning the entire day,
2:24 rehearsing conversations that are still
2:27 going to happen, solving problems that
2:29 might not even exist, anxious about
2:32 meetings that are still hours away. Your
2:35 mind can't stay quiet, can't simply be
2:38 there, tasting the coffee, hearing the
2:40 morning sounds. It's already racing
2:42 toward the future, trying to control
2:45 things that don't exist yet. And making
2:47 a simple analogy, it's like trying to
2:50 hold water with open hands. The more you
2:52 try to control what hasn't happened yet,
2:54 the more it slips through your fingers,
2:57 the more anxiety you create. In traffic,
3:00 more information consumption, podcasts,
3:04 music, news, anything to fill that space
3:07 that could be silence, contemplation.
3:08 But we're terrified of silence because
3:10 it brings uncomfortable questions,
3:13 thoughts we've been avoiding at work.
3:17 that avalanche. Emails that never stop.
3:19 Meetings that could be emails. Demands
3:22 that always seem urgent, but you don't
3:24 even know if they're truly important.
3:26 And you're stuck in that cycle of always
3:29 being busy, but never knowing if you're
3:32 doing what really matters. And at night,
3:34 when you get home exhausted, even
3:37 relaxing has become cognitive work
3:38 because now you need to choose between
3:40 thousands of series, dozens of
3:44 platforms, infinite options. You scroll
3:45 through the feed, scroll through the
3:48 options, spend 20 minutes deciding what
3:50 to watch. And when you finally choose
3:52 something, you're left with that feeling
3:54 that maybe you should be watching
3:56 something else. That you're wasting
3:58 time. That there's always something
4:01 better you're not seeing. And deep down,
4:03 what you really wanted was simply to
4:05 rest. But even that has turned into
4:08 another task, another decision, another
4:10 source of anxiety. And in the middle of
4:12 all this, when was the last time you
4:14 stopped and truly felt that you're
4:16 alive? When did you experience that rare
4:18 sensation of simply being present
4:20 without running from anything and
4:22 without fleeing from anything? The truth
4:27 is, we live on autopilot. Wake up, work,
4:31 consume, sleep, repeat. And there's a
4:32 part of us that knows something's wrong
4:34 with this, that feels a strange
4:36 emptiness even when we get everything
4:39 that should make us happy. But we ignore
4:41 that feeling because everyone around us
4:44 is doing the same thing. So it must be
4:46 normal. It must be just the way it is.
4:49 But is it? Does the fact that everyone's
4:51 stuck in the same trap make the trap any
4:53 less real? Theorough looked at the
4:56 people around him in 1845 and saw
4:59 exactly this. And pay attention because
5:01 this is fascinating. There was no
5:04 internet. There were no smartphones.
5:05 There was none of this stuff we use as
5:08 an excuse today. But the basic trap was
5:11 already there. Functioning people
5:12 working more and more to buy
5:15 increasingly unnecessary things. He
5:18 observed exhausted men trapped in jobs
5:20 they hated, maintaining enormous houses
5:22 that didn't need to be that big,
5:25 accumulating objects that only generated
5:28 more work. And here's the thing, if the
5:31 trap already existed 150 years ago
5:33 without modern technology, then maybe
5:35 the problem isn't the smartphone or
5:38 Netflix. Maybe it's something deeper in
5:40 the way we organize life, in the way we
5:43 define success, in the way we measure
5:46 value. And he had the courage to ask a
5:48 simple but revolutionary question. What
5:50 if I remove everything that's
5:52 superfluous and live only with the
5:55 essential? What's left? What's truly
5:58 necessary for a good life? So he went.
6:01 He went to Walden Pond, built a small
6:03 cabin with his own hands, planted what
6:05 to eat, and lived with almost nothing
6:08 for 2 years. And I keep thinking about
6:10 the courage that requires. I'm not
6:12 talking about physical courage. I'm
6:15 talking about philosophical courage, of
6:17 looking at your own life and questioning
6:18 everything you've always accepted as
6:21 truth. It's much easier to complain that
6:23 life is complicated but keep doing
6:25 everything the same way than to have the
6:28 honesty to ask, could it be that I'm the
6:30 one complicating things? Could it be
6:32 that I can choose differently? And you
6:35 know what he discovered living that way?
6:37 That the minimum was more than enough.
6:39 That simplicity wasn't giving up. It was
6:42 freedom. That the less you need, the
6:45 freer you are. This might sound like a
6:47 cliche, but it carries a profound truth
6:50 that most people never understand. We've
6:51 been conditioned to believe that more is
6:54 always better, that accumulating is
6:56 progressing. But what if it's the
6:58 opposite? What if each thing you add to
7:00 your life instead of freeing you traps
7:02 you a little more? What if happiness
7:04 isn't in reaching the next level, but in
7:06 finally accepting that you already have
7:09 enough? Now, I want you to stop for a
7:11 second and ask yourself, what do I
7:14 really need? Not what society says you
7:16 need, not what your parents expected you
7:18 to have, not what your friends have and
7:20 you feel you should have too, but what
7:23 you deep down when you're alone at night
7:26 before sleeping really need to be happy.
7:29 And here's the inconvenient truth. It's
7:31 much less than you think. It's much less
7:34 than they made you believe. Think about
7:36 everything you own. Every object in your
7:39 house carries an invisible weight. That
7:41 couch you bought and barely use, it
7:44 doesn't just occupy physical space. It
7:46 occupies mental space. You need to clean
7:50 it, maintain it, worry about it. When
7:52 someone spills something, you get
7:54 anxious. When you see a scratch, you get
7:57 irritated. Is it your relationship with
7:59 the couch or is the couch controlling
8:01 you? That car in the garage, it's not
8:03 just the price you paid when you bought
8:05 it. It's the insurance that drains
8:08 hundreds every month. It's the expensive
8:10 maintenance every 6 months. It's the
8:13 fuel that seems to never end. It's the
8:15 constant worry about it being stolen,
8:18 scratched, hit. It's the daily stress of
8:20 traffic that leaves you tense before you
8:23 even get to work. Do you own the car or
8:26 does the car own you? Those piles of
8:27 clothes in the closet that you haven't
8:30 worn in months, maybe years. They occupy
8:32 a space that could be empty, light,
8:34 peaceful, and you still need to organize
8:37 them, decide what to do with them, feel
8:40 that guilt every time you look, and
8:42 remember the money you spent. And the
8:44 inconvenient truth is that each thing
8:46 you own demands something from you in
8:50 return. It demands attention, time,
8:54 energy, money, worry. The things we own
8:56 end up owning us. Theorough said this
8:59 over a century ago. And the more I live,
9:01 the more I understand the weight of that
9:04 phrase. At first, you buy something
9:06 because you want it, because you believe
9:08 it's going to improve your life somehow.
9:10 There's that moment of pleasure in the
9:13 acquisition, that momentary satisfaction
9:16 of having gotten something new. But
9:18 then, without noticing the transition,
9:21 you become a servant to it. The big
9:22 house demands constant cleaning that
9:25 takes up your entire weekend. The car
9:27 demands maintenance that consumes your
9:29 time and money. The clothes demand
9:32 organization that you always postpone.
9:35 The electronics demand updates, repairs,
9:37 replacements when they become obsolete.
9:40 And suddenly, you don't have truly free
9:42 time anymore. You only have time to
9:44 maintain the gigantic inventory you've
9:46 accumulated. You're no longer the owner
9:48 of your life. You've become the manager
9:49 of a store of things you bought
9:51 yourself. And here's a way of thinking
9:54 about this that changed my perspective.
9:56 The real cost of anything isn't the
9:58 money price you pay. It's the lifetime
10:00 you trade for it. Theorough had this
10:03 deep understanding. He measured
10:05 everything in hours of life. Before
10:08 buying something, he did a simple but
10:11 revealing calculation. How many hours do
10:13 I need to work to earn enough money to
10:15 buy this? And then came the crucial
10:17 question. Is it worth trading these
10:19 specific hours of my only existence for
10:21 this object? When you do that
10:23 calculation honestly without deceiving
10:25 yourself, the answer most of the time is
10:28 no. It's not worth it. Think about it
10:32 with me. You work 8 maybe 9 hours a day,
10:34 5 or 6 days a week to earn money to pay
10:36 for an apartment you barely enjoy
10:38 because you spend most of your time
10:40 working to pay for it. You leave home at
10:42 7:00 in the morning, come back at 8:00
10:44 at night, and the apartment you work so
10:47 hard to have has basically become just a
10:49 place to sleep. It's an absurd, vicious
10:51 circle when you stop to look at it from
10:54 the outside. You work to have a place
10:56 you don't have time to enjoy because
10:58 you're working to have it. You buy
11:00 expensive brandame clothes to impress
11:03 people at social events you don't even
11:06 like attending, but go because you feel
11:08 you should because it would be weird not
11:10 to go because everyone goes and you
11:12 don't want to be left out. And you spend
11:14 hours of your life working to pay for
11:16 these clothes that you wear to impress
11:18 people who deep down don't even care
11:20 that much about you. And when you're
11:22 wearing these clothes at these events,
11:24 you're not even really having fun.
11:26 You're just fulfilling a social role,
11:27 doing what you think you should be
11:30 doing. You stick with a job you hate,
11:32 that drains you, that makes you wake up
11:33 every Monday with that weight in your
11:35 stomach because you need to maintain a
11:37 standard of living that when you're
11:38 honest with yourself on a sleepless
11:41 night, doesn't bring you real happiness.
11:43 You have the house, you have the car,
11:45 you have the clothes, you have the
11:48 electronics, but are you happy? Do you
11:50 feel like you're living or just
11:52 surviving? Are you doing what you want
11:55 or what you think you should want? It's
11:57 a sophisticated prison that you built
11:59 yourself brick by brick, purchase by
12:01 purchase, decision by decision, without
12:03 realizing what you were doing. And
12:05 here's the part that can change
12:06 everything if you have the courage to
12:09 face it. The key to that prison is in
12:12 your hand all the time. It always has
12:14 been. You just need the courage to use
12:17 it, to open the door and leave. Even if
12:20 people look at you sideways, even if
12:21 they judge, even if they don't
12:23 understand, because at the end of the
12:26 day, it's your life, not theirs. It's
12:28 your time that's passing, not theirs.
12:30 And there's another aspect to this
12:32 that's even more subtle, but equally
12:34 important. We live in a culture of
12:36 excessive choices, and this is
12:38 exhausting in a way we don't always
12:41 notice. Have you noticed how tiring it
12:44 is to decide anything nowadays? You open
12:47 Netflix to relax after a tiring day and
12:50 it takes 20, 30 minutes just to choose
12:52 what to watch. You keep scrolling
12:55 through the options, reading synopsis,
12:57 watching trailers, changing your mind.
12:59 And when you finally choose something,
13:01 you watch with half your attention
13:03 because you keep thinking whether you
13:05 shouldn't be watching something else,
13:07 whether you're wasting time, whether
13:09 there's something better there that you
13:12 didn't see. You go to the supermarket to
13:14 buy simple coffee and there are 30
13:16 different brands on the shelf. Whole
13:18 bean coffee, ground coffee, instant
13:21 coffee, light roast, medium roast, dark
13:25 roast, organic, traditional, special,
13:28 single origin, blend. How does someone
13:31 decide between all this? How do you know
13:33 which is the right choice? And you stand
13:36 there blocked, spending precious mental
13:38 energy on a decision that should be
13:40 simple. You want to buy a shirt and
13:42 discover there are thousands of models
13:45 available online, hundreds of colors,
13:48 dozens of styles, various brands. You
13:51 spend hours researching, comparing
13:54 prices, reading reviews, and in the end,
13:57 you're still unsure if you chose right,
13:59 if you shouldn't have researched more.
14:00 Psychologists have studied this
14:03 phenomenon and given it a name, the
14:06 paradox of choice. The counterintuitive
14:08 discovery is that the more options you
14:11 have, the harder it is to decide and the
14:13 less satisfied you are with what you
14:16 chose. It seems like it should be the
14:18 opposite, that more options should bring
14:20 more freedom and satisfaction. But
14:23 that's not how it works. More options
14:25 mean more anxiety about making the wrong
14:28 choice, more regret afterward, more
14:30 feeling that there's always something
14:32 better you missed. Theorough understood
14:35 this over a century ago, long before any
14:38 formal study. He realized that excess
14:40 options don't liberate, they paralyze.
14:43 So he did something radical. He reduced
14:45 his choices to the absolute minimum. A
14:47 few simple functional clothes that
14:50 worked for any occasion. A few basic
14:52 belongings that were truly useful. A few
14:54 social obligations that actually made
14:56 sense to him. A few commitments that
14:58 didn't drain his energy without bringing
15:01 real value. And you know what happened
15:04 when he did this? His mind became free.
15:07 Truly free. Not that freedom advertising
15:09 sells. Free to think deeply about
15:12 questions that mattered. Free to create,
15:16 to write, to observe. Free to simply be
15:18 present without the mind always jumping
15:21 to the next decision, to the next worry,
15:23 to the next problem. He didn't spend
15:25 mental energy deciding what to wear in
15:27 the morning or planning what to eat for
15:30 dinner. These decisions were automatic,
15:33 simple, quick, and this freed up an
15:35 absurd amount of cognitive space for
15:38 what really had value. When you truly
15:40 simplify, you don't lose anything that's
15:43 important. You gain space, mental space
15:46 for creativity to emerge, emotional
15:49 space to process what you feel, temporal
15:51 space to do what you like, space to
15:54 simply be without having to do or
15:57 produce or consume. Simplicity doesn't
15:59 limit you like culture wants to make you
16:01 believe. It frees you from invisible
16:04 chains you carry without realizing it.
16:06 But we live immersed in a culture that
16:09 obstinately sells another story. They
16:11 tell us from childhood that happiness is
16:13 always at the next level. In the next
16:15 salary that will give you security, in
16:18 the next car that will give you status,
16:19 in the next house that will give you
16:22 comfort, in the next achievement that
16:24 will give you satisfaction. It's an
16:26 illusion that never ends because the
16:27 goal moves every time you think you've
16:30 reached it. Because no matter how much
16:32 you have, there will always be more.
16:34 There will always be someone with more
16:38 money, more status, more recognition,
16:41 more followers, more of everything. and
16:43 you chase after it, increasingly
16:45 exhausted, increasingly anxious,
16:47 thinking that when you finally reach
16:49 that specific level, when you get that
16:51 thing that's missing, you'll finally
16:55 feel complete, fulfilled, at peace. But
16:58 that moment never truly comes. You reach
17:00 the goal you pursued so hard, you have a
17:02 few days or weeks of superficial
17:04 satisfaction, and then the feeling of
17:06 incompleteness returns. The restlessness
17:08 comes back and you look to the next
17:12 level and the race begins again. It's a
17:14 treadmill that accelerates more and more
17:17 and you never get anywhere. Theorough
17:19 saw this pattern and created a phrase
17:21 that's simultaneously simple and
17:24 devastating. Most people live lives of
17:27 quiet desperation. They're trapped in
17:29 routines they hate but continue because
17:31 they don't know how to get out. They're
17:32 fulfilling social roles they never
17:35 consciously chose, but that were imposed
17:37 by family expectations, social
17:39 pressures, cultural norms. They're
17:41 pursuing goals that don't truly satisfy
17:43 them, but that seem to be what they
17:45 should be pursuing. There's a compliment
17:47 that expands this reasoning in the
17:49 pinned comment, especially about
17:51 breaking away from the patterns that
17:53 most people follow. And they do all this
17:56 out of fear. Deep and paralyzing fear of
17:59 seeming like failures in others eyes.
18:01 Fear of disappointing parents who
18:03 invested so much in them. Fear of
18:05 stepping out of the socially accepted
18:07 line and being judged, criticized,
18:10 excluded. Fear of falling behind while
18:12 everyone around them is apparently
18:15 progressing, growing, winning. But where
18:18 are they progressing to? Growing in what
18:21 direction? Winning which game exactly?
18:24 And look, I know this is hard to hear.
18:26 It's uncomfortable to realize that maybe
18:28 you're living on autopilot, following a
18:31 script you didn't choose. But there's a
18:33 scientific truth in all this that can't
18:35 be ignored. Rigorous studies in
18:37 psychology show that after a certain
18:40 point of annual income, more money
18:42 simply doesn't bring more happiness. You
18:45 can double triple your salary and after
18:47 a few months of adaptation, you'll be
18:50 exactly as satisfied as you were before.
18:52 Because deep satisfaction doesn't come
18:54 from having more material things, more
18:56 social status, more external
18:58 recognition. It comes from something
19:00 different, from discovering and
19:03 accepting enough. And enough is always
19:04 less than you were conditioned to
19:08 imagine, much less. Theorough lived with
19:09 so little that people at the time
19:12 thought it was absurd, worthy of pity.
19:15 But he was happy. Genuinely happy in a
19:16 way that most of the people around him
19:19 full of possessions weren't. Not because
19:21 he objectively had little, but because
19:23 he had discovered what was enough for
19:25 him. And when you truly have enough,
19:27 when you really understand and accept
19:30 this, something almost magical happens.
19:33 You become free. Free from the constant
19:36 anxiety of always wanting more. Free
19:39 from the envy of seeing what others have
19:41 and comparing yourself. Free from the
19:44 fear of losing what you possess. Free
19:47 from the pressure to impress. You simply
19:50 are. Simply exist.
19:54 Simply be. And being, existing, being is
19:56 the rarest state of modern human
19:59 existence. We're always going, always
20:01 doing, always producing, always
20:04 consuming. But we rarely are. We rarely
20:07 exist. Now, let's talk directly about
20:09 time because at the end of the day,
20:12 everything comes down to this. Time is
20:15 the only truly important resource that
20:17 you absolutely cannot recover. You can
20:20 earn more money if you lose it. You can
20:22 make new friends if the old ones drift
20:24 away. You can change jobs if the current
20:27 one doesn't work. You can sell the house
20:29 and buy another. But the time that
20:33 passed past forever, it's over. It never
20:36 comes back. Every second you live is one
20:39 irreversible second less that you have.
20:42 Every minute is unique. Every hour that
20:44 passes is an hour that will never exist
20:47 again. And the absurd tragedy of modern
20:50 life is that we spend a disproportionate
20:52 majority of our time working to buy
20:54 things we objectively don't need to be
20:57 happy. While we chronically neglect what
20:59 really matters. Genuine human
21:02 connections with people we truly love.
21:03 Physical and mental health that allows
21:06 us to enjoy life. Personal growth that
21:09 gives meaning to existence. meaningful
21:11 experiences that create lasting
21:14 memories, simple moments of peace and
21:16 contemplation where you just exist
21:19 without pressure. Theo had a brilliant
21:21 way of calculating the real value of
21:23 things. He measured everything in hours
21:26 of life. If an object cost a week of
21:28 work, he would ask himself seriously, is
21:30 it really worth trading an entire week
21:33 of my only existence for this object? A
21:36 week is 168 hours that will never come back.
21:38 back.
21:40 168 hours that could be spent reading
21:42 books that expand the mind, thinking
21:44 about important questions, writing
21:47 reflections, walking in nature with full
21:49 attention, truly conversing with friends
21:52 about subjects that matter. Is it worth
21:55 trading all that all these possibilities
21:57 for a simple material object? When you
22:00 do that calculation honestly, the answer
22:03 in most cases is no. But we rarely do
22:05 that calculation before buying. We buy
22:08 on impulse, moved by advertising, by
22:12 social comparison, by an internal void
22:15 we try to fill with objects. And then we
22:18 work to pay without ever calculating the
22:21 real cost in lived life. Think about how
22:23 many hours you work every month to pay
22:25 for things you barely use or don't use
22:27 at all. That expensive gym membership
22:30 you go to twice a month, if that. How
22:32 many days did you work to pay for this
22:34 entire year's membership? And those two
22:36 times a month you go, do you really
22:38 enjoy it or do you go in a hurry, run on
22:40 the treadmill thinking about work, take
22:42 a quick shower, and rush out to the next
22:45 appointment, the value you pay isn't
22:47 just money. It's lifetime converted to
22:50 money, converted to a promise of health
22:52 you never really enjoy because you don't
22:54 have time to enjoy it. That streaming
22:56 subscription you don't even remember you
22:58 have because you use another one. How
23:00 many hours of your life went to pay for
23:02 something you don't even use? And why
23:05 don't you cancel it? Because it's only $
23:07 20, $30 a month and seems insignificant,
23:12 but $20 a month is $240 a year. And $240
23:15 a year for 10 years is $2,400 thrown
23:19 away on something you don't even use.
23:20 How many hours of work does that
23:22 represent? How many days of your life
23:24 did you sell for absolutely nothing in
23:27 return? And if you multiply this by all
23:29 the unnecessary subscriptions, all the
23:31 services you pay for but don't use, all
23:34 the objects you buy but don't need, how
23:36 much of your life are you wasting? That
23:39 relatively new car that sits idle 90% of
23:41 the time because you work so much you
23:43 barely have time to drive anywhere that
23:46 isn't work itself. How many months, how
23:49 many years of work did it cost? How many
23:51 years did you work to put together the
23:53 down payment? How many years are you
23:56 working to pay the installments? And the
23:58 car is sitting there in the garage while
24:00 you're stuck in the office earning money
24:02 to pay for it. And when you finally use
24:04 the car, it's to go to work to earn more
24:07 money to keep paying for it. It's almost
24:09 comical when you stop to look at it from
24:11 the outside. But it's tragic when it's
24:14 your life. It's tragic when you realize
24:16 you're stuck in a cycle where you work
24:17 to have things you don't have time to
24:20 use because you're working to have them.
24:22 Each of these things cost precious hours
24:24 of your only life and you're not getting
24:27 those hours back. There's no refund.
24:29 There's no return. You traded them for
24:32 objects, for services, for status, for a
24:34 vague idea of happiness that never
24:36 materialized the way you imagined. The
24:39 simple life is the conscious decision to
24:41 stop making this insane trade. It's
24:44 choosing to work less to have truly more
24:47 free time. It's choosing to own less to
24:49 have more real freedom. It's
24:52 understanding that true luxury isn't
24:54 having everything money can buy. It's
24:59 having time, abundant and genuine time.
25:00 Time to be with who you love without
25:03 hurry. Time to do what you like without
25:06 guilt. Time to do nothing and be at
25:09 peace with that. Time to simply exist
25:10 without the constant pressure to
25:15 produce, consume, accumulate, prove. But
25:17 society doesn't want you to understand
25:19 this. Think about it. If everyone woke
25:21 up tomorrow and realized they already
25:23 have enough, that they don't need the
25:26 next phone model, the next car, the next
25:29 outfit, the next bigger house, what
25:31 would happen to the economy? To the
25:33 companies that profit billions selling
25:36 things nobody truly needs, to this
25:38 entire system that sustains itself on
25:40 your perpetual dissatisfaction.
25:43 It would collapse. That's why there's an
25:45 entire industry dedicated to making you
25:48 feel inadequate, incomplete,
25:51 insufficient. The system depends on you
25:53 believing you need the next model even
25:55 though yours works perfectly. That you
25:58 need to change cars even though yours is
26:00 running well. That you need to buy new
26:04 clothes even though your closet is full.
26:06 And how do they make you believe this?
26:08 through sophisticated advertising that
26:11 studies human psychology that deeply
26:13 understands your most primitive fears,
26:15 your deepest insecurities, your most
26:18 hidden desires. Companies invest
26:20 fortunes in research on human behavior,
26:22 on emotional triggers, on how to make
26:24 you feel you need something you didn't
26:27 need 5 minutes ago. They spend billions
26:29 every year on meticulously crafted
26:31 campaigns to convince you that you're
26:33 not enough as you are, that your current
26:35 house isn't good enough, that your
26:37 natural body isn't beautiful enough,
26:38 that your normal life isn't interesting
26:41 enough, that your car is too old, that
26:43 your clothes are outdated, that you're
26:44 falling behind while everyone else is
26:47 moving forward. They sell aspiration.
26:49 They sell the promise of being someone
26:53 better, happier, more successful if you
26:55 just buy what they're selling. And the
26:58 magical, convenient, always available
27:00 solution is in buying the specific
27:02 product they're selling at that moment.
27:05 Buy this car and you'll be successful,
27:09 respected, admired. Buy this outfit and
27:11 you'll be attractive, desirable,
27:14 noticed. Buy this phone and you'll be
27:17 modern, relevant, connected. Buy this
27:20 house and you'll be happy, fulfilled,
27:23 complete. It's a sophisticated lie
27:25 packaged in dazzling images, in
27:27 emotional music that plays with your
27:30 emotions, in seductive promises that
27:32 speak directly to your insecurities. And
27:35 we believe because we want to believe.
27:38 We buy because we want it to be true.
27:40 And then we wonder why we still feel
27:42 empty. Why the promised happiness didn't
27:45 come with the product. Why that internal
27:47 void continues there asking to be filled
27:49 with the next purchase, the next
27:52 achievement, the next object. Theorough
27:54 saw this manipulative mechanism clearly
27:56 and chose to exit the game, not because
27:59 he was lazy or failed, but because he
28:00 was smart enough to realize the race
28:03 made no sense. That the touted prizes
28:06 were empty. that the only genuine
28:08 possible victory was not playing by the
28:11 imposed rules. Living simply is an act
28:13 of conscious rebellion. It's refusing
28:16 the social role they gave you. It's
28:18 saying no to a giant system that wants
28:21 you anxious, in debt, and obedient. It's
28:24 recovering your autonomy, your freedom,
28:27 your own life. And this requires absurd
28:28 courage because you're going to
28:31 disappoint expectations. Your parents
28:33 will ask worriedly why you don't want a
28:35 bigger house, a better car, a more
28:38 prestigious job. Your friends will find
28:40 your choices strange, will think you're
28:43 weird. Society as a whole will look at
28:45 you with a mixture of confusion and
28:48 pity, as if you'd given up on life, as
28:50 if you'd failed. But the truth is the
28:53 opposite. You didn't give up. You woke
28:55 up from a collective dream that was
28:57 actually a disguised nightmare. And
28:59 here's something crucial nobody tells
29:01 you. The definition of success you carry
29:04 in your head is a social construction,
29:07 not a universal truth. Big house in a
29:09 fancy neighborhood, imported car,
29:11 executive position, extravagant
29:14 vacations, perfect Instagram photos. Who
29:17 decided this is success? Where did this
29:19 definition come from? Who sat down and
29:21 determined this is the only valid way to
29:24 live well? Did you decide this after
29:26 reflecting deeply on your most authentic
29:29 values? After spending days, weeks
29:31 thinking about what really matters to
29:34 you? Or was it society that sold you
29:36 this ready-made definition since you
29:38 were a kid? Watching television, seeing
29:40 commercials, hearing adult conversations
29:42 about who's doing well in life and who
29:45 isn't. And you simply internalize this
29:47 without questioning, without realizing
29:49 you were accepting a script written by
29:51 other people with other values, other
29:53 priorities, other definitions of a good
29:56 life. Theorough had the intellectual
29:58 courage to question and redefine success
30:01 on his own terms, autonomy over his own
30:04 time, space for deep contemplation,
30:06 perfect alignment between actions and
30:09 personal values. He had tremendous
30:11 success according to these criteria he
30:13 established himself. But a kind of
30:16 success most people don't recognize as
30:18 success because they were culturally
30:20 conditioned to look in the wrong places,
30:21 at the wrong metrics, at the wrong
30:24 goals. True success isn't impressing
30:26 strangers on the internet with
30:28 performative achievements. It's living
30:31 every day according to what you truly
30:33 value, not what advertising says you
30:35 should value. And this is different for
30:37 each person. Each one has a unique
30:40 combination of values, interests,
30:42 definitions of a good life. But consumer
30:44 society doesn't want you to discover
30:46 your own definition. It wants you to
30:49 accept the ready-made script. School,
30:52 college, job, marriage, kids, house,
30:55 car, retirement, death. And if you dare
30:57 step out of this human production line,
30:59 if you question any stage, you're
31:02 treated as abnormal, as problematic.
31:04 Theorough was heavily criticized. They
31:06 said he was wasting his potential, that
31:08 someone with his education and
31:10 intelligence could be important. But he
31:13 already was important. He was himself.
31:15 And he had enough courage not to care
31:17 what people who didn't understand his
31:19 values thought of his choices. This is
31:21 exactly the courage that simple living
31:25 requires. The courage to disappoint.
31:26 Your parents might genuinely not
31:28 understand why you don't want the
31:30 well-paid corporate job they've planned
31:32 for you since childhood. Your friends
31:34 might drift away because you no longer
31:36 fit into their lifestyle. Your family
31:38 might question your decisions. And you
31:41 need to be emotionally prepared for that
31:42 because truly living means living
31:45 according to your own definitions. And
31:46 that will disappoint those who expected
31:48 you to live according to the definitions
31:50 they have. But there's something deeply
31:52 liberating in disappointing others
31:55 expectations and surviving it. When you
31:57 stop trying to please everyone, when you
31:59 stop contorting your life to fit into
32:02 others expectations, you finally start
32:05 truly pleasing yourself. And this isn't
32:07 selfishness like they'll accuse. It's
32:10 maturity. It's understanding you have
32:13 only one life, one unique existence, and
32:15 that you can't live it trying to match a
32:17 script other people wrote for you
32:19 without consulting you, without knowing
32:22 your values, without understanding who
32:25 you truly are. And look, simple living
32:27 isn't just about owning fewer physical
32:29 objects. It's about something much
32:32 deeper and more transformative. Removing
32:34 layers and layers of false constructed
32:36 identity until you reach the authentic
32:39 core of who you really are underneath
32:40 all the social masks you've been
32:42 accumulating over the years. Because
32:44 when you stop to think with brutal
32:47 honesty, a giant part of what we own,
32:50 what we do, what we consume, what we
32:52 display, isn't to serve our true
32:56 essence, our real soul. It's purely,
32:59 exclusively to project a specific and
33:01 carefully constructed image, to perform
33:04 a fabricated identity we think we should
33:07 have. to impress external observers who
33:10 actually don't really know us, who don't
33:12 know who we are when we're alone at home
33:14 with no audience watching, with no
33:17 camera on, with no expectations being
33:20 projected onto us? Do you buy certain
33:22 clothes because you really genuinely
33:24 like them? because they make you feel
33:26 good when you look in the mirror alone,
33:28 because they express something true
33:31 about who you are deep down, or because
33:33 you want others to think something very
33:34 specific about you when they see you
33:37 wearing them. You want them to think you
33:38 have good taste, that you're
33:40 fashionable, that you have enough money
33:43 to buy recognized brands, that you're
33:45 cool, that you're professional, that
33:48 you're anything that doesn't necessarily
33:50 correspond to who you truly are, but is
33:52 the carefully constructed image you want
33:55 to project to the world? Do you accept
33:57 certain jobs because they fulfill you
34:00 deeply as a person because you wake up
34:03 every day excited to work on that?
34:04 Because you feel you're doing something
34:07 meaningful that matters. Or because the
34:09 position title sounds impressive when
34:11 you tell people at parties and social
34:14 events. Because your parents are visibly
34:17 proud when you say where you work and
34:19 what you do. Because your college
34:21 friends will envy your apparent career
34:23 success. And you'll finally be able to
34:26 show that you made it to in life, that
34:28 you didn't fall behind. Do you frequent
34:31 certain places? Restaurants considered
34:34 sophisticated, recognize social events
34:37 because you genuinely like them and have
34:39 fun there because you feel good in those
34:41 environments because there's something
34:43 in those spaces that resonates with who
34:46 you are or because you want to be seen
34:49 in these specific places. You want
34:52 people to know you go there. You want to
34:54 take photos to post on social media and
34:56 show that your life is interesting,
34:59 enviable, worthy of admiration and likes
35:02 and validating comments. Do you post
35:04 certain things on social media because
35:05 they're genuinely important to you
35:07 because you want to share something that
35:09 had real meaning or because you
35:12 calculated exactly consciously or not?
35:14 What kind of content will generate more
35:16 engagement, more external validation,
35:19 more social confirmation that you're
35:21 doing well in life according to the
35:24 standards everyone agreed to follow?
35:26 Theorough always asked, "Who am I when I
35:28 remove everything that's external? When
35:32 I take off the masks, the performances,
35:34 what's left?" Many people fear this
35:36 question because they've spent so much
35:38 time building a persona, they don't know
35:40 what exists underneath anymore. But this
35:42 is the most important journey you can
35:45 make. Discovering who you truly are. Not
35:47 who you pretend to be. Not who others
35:50 want you to be, but who you are when
35:52 nobody's watching. And simple living
35:54 forces this discovery. When you remove
35:56 the excess, there's nowhere left to
35:59 hide. There are no more objects to
36:01 define your identity. There's no more
36:04 status to validate your existence. Only
36:07 you remain. And either you find yourself
36:09 or you lose yourself. Thorough found
36:12 himself and what he found was enough.
36:15 There's one more thing he understood.
36:17 The importance of nature. Not as a
36:20 beautiful backdrop, but as a teacher.
36:22 Nature operates in rhythms that can't be
36:25 forced. A tree doesn't grow faster
36:27 because you want it to. A season doesn't
36:30 arrive ahead of time. And observing this
36:33 teaches patience, acceptance, presence.
36:36 Nature also shows scale. When you're in
36:38 front of a mountain or an ocean, you
36:41 realize how small you are, how ephemeral
36:43 your worries are, how life is bigger
36:46 than your anxieties. Theorough spent
36:50 hours observing a lake, a tree, a bird.
36:52 And this wasn't a waste of time. It was
36:54 recovery of perspective. Because in the
36:57 accelerated pace of modern life, we lose
36:59 the ability to simply be. We always need
37:01 to be doing something, producing
37:03 something, consuming something. The idea
37:06 of just observing seems like waste, but
37:08 it isn't. It's the opposite. It's the
37:11 only way to truly see. And nature is
37:13 available to everyone. You don't need to
37:16 go to an isolated forest. A park already
37:20 works. A garden, a square, any place
37:22 where you can exit urgency mode and
37:24 enter presence mode because presence is
37:27 the antidote to modern alienation and
37:29 nature is the best place to practice it.
37:32 But let's be practical now. How do you
37:34 start simplifying today? You don't need
37:36 to sell everything and go live in a
37:39 cabin. Theorough isn't asking for that.
37:41 He's asking that you question that you
37:43 look at your life and ask, "What here
37:46 truly serves me? And what do I serve
37:49 without questioning?" Start small, but
37:51 start today. Choose a single room in the
37:55 house. Look at the objects. Pick up each
37:58 one and ask three honest questions. Do I
38:01 really use this? Does this bring me joy
38:03 or serve a clear purpose? If I didn't
38:05 have this, would my life be
38:08 significantly worse? If the answer is
38:11 no, donate it. Discard it. Free up
38:13 space. You'll feel the relief
38:15 immediately because physical space
38:17 creates mental space. And mental space
38:20 is where clarity lives. But don't do
38:22 this automatically. Really pick up each
38:24 object. Feel its weight in your hand.
38:27 Ask yourself, when was the last time I
38:29 used this? Why did I buy this? What did
38:32 I expect this to bring to my life? Did
38:34 it? And if the answer is no, if that
38:36 object is just sitting there taking up
38:39 space, gathering dust, creating that
38:41 silent guilt every time you look and
38:44 remember the money you spent, let it go.
38:47 Donate to someone who needs it. Sell it
38:49 if it has value or discard it
38:52 responsibly and feel the relief, the
38:54 lightness that comes when you free up
38:56 space. Then examine your commitments
38:59 with the same honesty. Look at your
39:02 weekly schedule. How many things do you
39:04 do because you genuinely want to? And
39:06 how many because you simply think you
39:08 should? That monthly dinner with family
39:11 that always leaves you tense, where
39:12 there's always that person who asks
39:15 invasive questions? Do you go because
39:17 you want to or because it would be a
39:20 scandal if you didn't? that networking
39:21 event where you feel uncomfortable
39:23 making superficial conversations with
39:25 strangers, pretending interest in empty
39:27 conversations. Do you go because you
39:29 genuinely believe it will help you or
39:32 because everyone says you should go that
39:34 it's important for your career? That
39:36 favor your friend always asks and you
39:38 always say yes, even though you really
39:41 want to say no, even though you know it
39:43 will drain you, that it will take time
39:45 from things that really matter to you.
39:47 Do you say yes because you want to help?
39:49 Or because you're afraid of seeming
39:52 selfish, of losing the friendship, of
39:55 being judged? Start today practicing
39:57 saying no to what doesn't truly serve
39:59 you. Not with aggression. You don't need
40:03 to be rude, but with calm, respectful
40:05 firmness. A simple, I won't be able to
40:08 make it this time, is enough. You don't
40:11 owe detailed explanations, elaborate justifications.
40:12 justifications.
40:15 Your time is yours. It's the only
40:17 resource that's truly yours. You don't
40:20 owe anyone apologies for protecting it.
40:22 Cancel a subscription you pay for, but
40:25 don't use. It might seem like little,
40:28 but start with one. That gym you pay for
40:30 every month, but go to twice if that.
40:32 That streaming platform you don't even
40:34 remember you have because you use
40:36 another. That premium app that seemed
40:37 like a great idea when you signed up,
40:40 but you never really use. cancel one
40:43 today and feel the relief of having one
40:46 less worry, one less debit silently
40:48 draining your account every month. And
40:50 more important than the money you'll
40:52 save, feel the sensation of taking back
40:55 control, of making conscious choices
40:57 instead of just leaving everything on
41:00 autopilot. Delete apps that only serve
41:02 to distract you. That game you open
41:04 without thinking every time you have a
41:07 free minute. That social network you
41:09 scroll endlessly, even without having
41:12 anything specific you want to see. That
41:14 news app that bombards you with
41:17 information that only makes you anxious
41:18 without you being able to do anything
41:21 about it. Delete them. It will be
41:23 uncomfortable the first few days. You'll
41:25 feel that automatic desire to open the
41:27 app. You'll grab your phone without
41:29 thinking and look for the icon that's no
41:31 longer there. But this discomfort is
41:34 good. It's a sign you were addicted and
41:37 are starting to heal. To free yourself,
41:39 institute one day a week of digital
41:42 fasting. Choose a day. It can be
41:45 Saturday. It can be Sunday. And on that
41:49 day, no phone, no computer, no tablet,
41:53 no television, no screens, just you and
41:56 the real physical world around you.
41:57 Truly converse with people without
41:59 having half your attention on your
42:02 phone. Read a physical book. Walk paying
42:05 attention to what you see. Cook
42:07 something without following a recipe on
42:09 your phone. It will seem strange at
42:12 first. You'll feel disconnected from the
42:14 world, but gradually you'll realize
42:16 you've never been so connected to what
42:19 really matters. Practice the rose
42:21 exercise. Before buying anything
42:24 non-essential, calculate how many hours
42:26 of work it will cost. Divide the price
42:30 by your hourly wage. and honestly ask,
42:32 "Is it worth trading these hours of my
42:34 life for this?" Almost always, it's not
42:36 worth it. And you'll save not just
42:38 money, but something infinitely more
42:43 precious, real lived life. And finally,
42:45 reserve 15 minutes daily for total
42:48 silence. No background music, no
42:51 educational podcast, no audio book, no
42:54 external stimulus of any kind. just you,
42:56 your natural breathing and the present
43:00 moment exactly as it is. Sit in a quiet
43:03 place. Close your eyes if it helps. And
43:06 simply observe your breath going in and
43:08 out. Don't try to control it. Don't try
43:11 to do it a specific way. Just observe.
43:14 At first, and I guarantee this will
43:16 happen, your mind will scream, will
43:19 protest, will bombard you with random
43:21 thoughts, repressed anxieties, endless
43:24 lists of pending tasks, worries about
43:27 the future, regrets about the past. It
43:29 will be uncomfortable, even irritating.
43:32 You'll want to quit. Grab your phone,
43:34 turn on the TV, do anything to escape
43:37 that uncomfortable silence. But don't do
43:40 that. Keep sitting. Keep observing the
43:42 breath. Keep present even when the mind
43:45 screams. Because it's exactly in that
43:47 uncomfortable silence, in that apparent
43:49 emptiness that most people spend their
43:52 entire lives avoiding, that you finally
43:54 truly find yourself. It's in that pause
43:57 that clarity eventually appears. It's
43:59 there when you stop running and simply
44:01 are. That you remember what it means to
44:04 be truly alive, not just functioning on
44:06 autopilot, but genuinely conscious of
44:09 your own existence. And gradually with
44:12 daily practice that silence that was
44:14 uncomfortable begins to become refuge
44:16 begins to become the moment of the day
44:19 you value most. Simplicity isn't a final
44:22 destination you reach. It's a continuous
44:25 daily practice. Each conscious choice.
44:28 Each no said with courage. Each object
44:32 let go. Each moment of total presence.
44:34 That's how you build and maintain a
44:36 simple life. And a simple life is a free
44:40 life. Free from chronic anxiety. Free
44:42 from destructive comparison. Free from
44:45 the senseless race. You won't have more
44:47 accumulated money, but you'll have more
44:49 free time. You won't have more social
44:52 status, but you'll have more inner
44:55 peace. You won't impress more people,
44:57 but you'll respect yourself more. And in
45:00 the end, when you look back, you won't
45:02 regret the things you didn't buy. You'll
45:04 regret the time you lost buying things
45:07 that didn't matter. You won't regret the
45:09 empty parties you didn't attend. You'll
45:11 regret the nights you spent exhausted at
45:13 superficial events instead of being with
45:16 those you loved. You won't regret having
45:19 had less. You'll regret not having lived
45:22 more. The row lived only 44 years. But
45:25 he lived more than most who reach 80 or
45:29 90 because he truly lived without masks,
45:32 without performances, without excuses.
45:35 He made the smartest choice anyone can
45:37 make. He chose to live with total
45:39 authenticity. And that choice is
45:42 available to you now. Not tomorrow when
45:44 conditions are perfect. Not when you
45:47 have more money. Not when you retire.
45:50 Now. Because. Because now is all you
45:53 really have. And a simple life is the
45:56 smartest way to honor this unique now.
45:58 If this talk made you think, if it
46:00 planted some seed of change, subscribe
46:02 to the channel. Hit that like button.
