Everything We Really Need
Two weeks ago we went on a field activity and visited a family’s home nestled into the thicket of the jungle. The man who owned the home kept saying how this was his “little paradise”. It was simple, almost like the house out of the movie Swiss Family Robinson. There was nothing over the top just exactly what he needed. The wood was lightly painted over and the floors were made of stone. But the love that this man had to share with us made the home far more beautiful than it physically was.
We walked through his property which was just over five acres of jungle. We sat by the river and gazed into the curtain of greenery. Every moment I sat there I thought of the words the man said, “It may be simple but this is my little paradise. I am happy and that is all I need.”
Over the course of my five weeks here in Costa Rica I have grown significantly. My ideals and perspective on life are drastically different than what they were when I first arrived. Going to Northeastern many of us can understand that life becomes a little hyper-competitive. Each of us scouring to get the top co-op, develop the best career, be the first to accept that post-grad job. All of what we do at Northeastern is centered on our career and being the best employee that we can be. None of this is bad, but it inevitably creates an environment where our career is the focus of our lives.
As I near the end of my college career I have found myself to become consumed by that next step, the next stop of finding a job and living in the “real world”. I want to be the best at what I do; I want to make it to the top, I want to do something great.. However, as much as this drive has helped me gain phenomenal work experience and open up doors I never knew existed it has also hindered me from remembering the little things. I have found that I have grown out of touch with what’s important in life. There is more to life than just the job and the perks that come with it. When I replay the day at the small quaint home of the sustainable farmer I recall his words of simplicity and love. As a result of choosing to live with what he needed instead of what he wanted he was able to live a happier life that truly gave him all that he could ever ask for. His quality of life transcended anything that material possessions could provide.
Living a sustainable life is not just about being environmentally friendly. The benefits and perks surpass that and touch upon the very essence of living life with the utmost joy. This realization and time of reflection quite frankly blew my mind. I quickly found myself becoming more grounded and thinking outside of what I wanted and started thinking more collaboratively, looking to think about others more so than just myself.
My career still matters and my goals in life are all the same. I want to work in international development and work on tough issues such as agriculture, women’s empowerment and education access in developing countries. But the means in which I reach these goals have altered. My perspective has shifted and has forced me to working towards being more patient, generous and selfless. I am no longer aiming to reach these goals for my own satisfaction and self-righteous ego. Rather, I know I must tackle these issues because it is the right thing to do. My work should not be a reflection of solely myself but should also reflect the community and world I hope to live in one day.
Sustainability is not the silver bullet in development or life happiness. But it is means to an end of creating a world where we can equally share each piece of the pie. We owe it to the generations of the past, present and future. Living life with what we need rather than with what we want can help shape the world to be a happier, fuller and healthier place to live in. We can make our own little paradise just like the man on the farm did simply by thinking and acting sustainably.
My time at EARTH University and experiences traveling and living in Costa Rica this past month have shaped the person I want to be as I enter my final semester in college. It has demonstrated to me the importance of environmentalism and sustainability. But it has also revealed the immense importance of thinking globally and collaboratively instead of individually. It has encouraged me to think of the world as a cooperative unit rather than a series of isolated individuals. In order to create change we must have motivation that exceeds our individual selfish priorities and is rather driven by the desire to change the world for the betterment of current and future generations.
