Solution:  Live more simply.

Why We Need It:  Our culture reveres the materialistic, the wealthy, and the glamorous, and suffers for it.  The new American dream - expensive cars in the garage of a huge McMansion - leads mostly to deeply discontented, workaholic citizens, struggling to keep up with some abstractly perceived idea of "success".  But what determines success more completely than true happiness?

Why You'll Like It:  Voluntarily living a more simple lifestyle lowers your cost of living, increases your time to do whatever you'd like, instills a greater sense of purpose into your life, and almost necessarily makes you more responsible environmentally and socially.

In Depth:  It's impossible to miss.  We are bombarded constantly with images or other media of the rich, the famous, the glamorous.  They have been set up on a pedestal as the American ideal - what we all should want to be, and even though we all can't be, it's what we should strive for anyway.  The current American ideal of success is to be wealthy, to drive large expensive vehicles, to live in a huge house, to live in excess.

Frankly, that's just wrong.  It's wrong because people in developing countries - not to mention here in our own country - can't get enough food to eat or clean water to drink.  It's wrong because it turns many people into nothing but little cogs in the corporate elite's money-making machine, spinning their lives away trying to pay for things they no longer have time to use.  And it's wrong because it's an ideal that requires a have/have not mentality - if we were all to attain the ideal, we would have negated the ideal altogether.

There's a better way!  And it is simple - in ideal, and in practice.  Strive not for material goods, large amounts of currency, fame or fortune.  Instead, strive for simplicity and true contentedness.  The two are not mutually exclusive; the former can bring the latter - and simply indeed is how most of the world's deeply contented cultures have lived - but first you need the right attitude.  If you're still looking at the wealthy and materialistic as the ideal, you'll never be able to live in voluntary simplicity.  See them for what they really are:  Figureheads of a shallow and irresponsible national culture.

Voluntary simplicity affects all parts of our lives.  Once you have cultivated the attitude and truly are striving for simplicity, you see everything through a new, refreshing lens.  You find that you don't need the huge house, the brand-new car, the stressful but high-paying job, the television.  Instead, you find that you need direct connections to things that truly matter in your life - family, friends, food, living environment, etc.  Once you begin to form these direct connections with the basics, you'll find that a sense of purpose and contentedness are slowly moving into your life.

Contrary to popular opinion, a simple lifestyle isn't all about sacrifice.  From the outside, it may look that way, but that is only because the person with a simple lifestyle lacks all the material accoutrements expected by popular culture.  The benefits of voluntary simplicity are largely invisible.  For example, living in a smaller house creates a closer family and lowers your mortgage.  Driving used cars (or having no car at all!) lowers your car payment and your insurance bill, and you no longer need to worry so much about someone scratching the paint.  Get rid of your TV and you rid yourself of the cable bill, a mind-numbing time-waster, and pop culture's direct line to your brain.  Ride your bicycle for utility once in a while and pay less for gas, while doing both the environment and your body good.  Make food at home from scratch and spend less, while getting better nutrition.  In general, voluntary simplicity will save you money, increase your free time, and bring you happiness.  It is impossible to list all the benefits of a simple lifestyle, because they are so many and varied!

Check out our Solutions and DIY sections for ideas on how to live the simple lifestyle.