Downshifting

Hurry up! We get stressed. Faster! It is not enough. Don't be late!


Maybe we are living in a society which is in a hurry, but on the other hand, we want to live longer and longer. We want to be young forever in order to enjoy more. But, do we want to enjoy living in a rush?

Downshifting is a movement started in EEUU. It tells maybe we don't need work so much to earn so much money. It is just we only need to work for living, not living for work.

Free time is living! Quality of life is not working a lot of hours a day to have an Aston Martin, or making extra hours at work to have more money to go farther on holidays. We have got used to a high consumer rhythm (maybe there are some people very interested in we work a lot and spend a lot) and we might buy more things than we really need.

Money isn't happyness. Obviuosly it helps a lot, especially in a consumer society. But it's proved once people reach self-sufficiency money levels, they don't get happier if they increase their amount of money.

It's not about not to work to lying around. It's working a reasonable quantity of hours, so you can enjoy life, your hobbies, your family, your friends... Enjoy is not consuming.

It even seems this "working & leisure time" is not very sustainable. We only have to see wealth distribution is not fair at all. Maybe western people life level is only possible if the most part of the mankind lives in bad situation.

There's another movement, slow food, very similar to downshiting. It is about the same but related to food.