{"id":25861,"date":"2015-11-20T13:00:51","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T21:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=25861"},"modified":"2015-11-20T13:00:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T21:00:52","slug":"live-a-life-of-leisure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2015\/11\/20\/live-a-life-of-leisure\/","title":{"rendered":"Live a Life of Leisure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"East
East Lansing, 2013 #cindyproject<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dear friend,\u00c2\u00a0life is brutally short; live a life of leisure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean to say suddenly quit your job, but to enjoy every moment as if it were your last.<\/p>\n

Imagine you are stranded in a desert and you are dying from thirst. You see a stream of water, but it will only flow for a minute. You rush over, and swallow all the water your stomach will hold, because you know it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t flow anymore.<\/p>\n

This is a good metaphor for life (credit Seneca in his letter, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the Shortness of Life\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). Life is a limited stream. Sooner or later, the stream will no longer flow. So why waste our time and our lives chasing distractions (pleasures, material things, fame) which will no longer exist when we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re dead?<\/p>\n

There are only two things which are certain in life: death and taxes (unless you live in Dubai). Everything else is uncertain.<\/p>\n

So why waste time researching cameras online, trying to save up money to buy that new lens, or fantasizing about traveling abroad? Why not use the small time we have on earth to shoot to our heart\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s content?<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u201d<\/p>\n

I read another quote from Seneca in which he says something like, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The good sailor can sail well even with a rented sail.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

I just shipped off my Ricoh GR to a friend who is learning photography, and I feel quite free and liberated (not having a camera on me). I still have a camera on my smartphone, perhaps I will use that to make some photos. I have a film Leica chilling at home, maybe I will use that more when I get back.<\/p>\n

I like the idea of not owning a camera\u00e2\u20ac\u201d perhaps we can live in a world where all our material possessions are rented? Just look at the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153sharing economy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d we have\u00e2\u20ac\u201d we share our cars (Uber), we share our homes (AirBNB). Million-dollar idea: start the Uber of camera-sharing (will save people tons of money).<\/p>\n

Hedonic adaptation<\/h2>\n

I love material things; yet I always over-estimate how much happiness it will buy me.<\/p>\n

When I bought a Leica M9, I thought it would solve all my life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problems. Wrong. I got it and loved it for a month, then at the end of the month it started to collect dust (like all my other cameras), and I no longer felt \u00e2\u20ac\u0153inspired\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to shoot. I think this is what happens when you buy a BMW; the first month is awesome, then it becomes any old car.<\/p>\n

In the book \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Thinking Fast, and Slow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by Daniel Kehnamen\u00c2\u00a0he calls this process \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hedonic adaptation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d that no matter how good the material things we buy, we will always get used to it.<\/p>\n

Similarly, we over-estimate how much happiness these material things will bring us. Furthermore, we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t expect the process of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hedonic adaptation\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which brings us more dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n

Satisficing<\/h2>\n

In \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Paradox of Choice\u00e2\u20ac\u009d psychologist Barry Schwartz brings up a concept of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153satisficing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (a combination of the word \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsuffice\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcsatisfy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122). To satisfice is to be okay with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good enough.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

On the other hand, there is a concept of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153maximizing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d where you want the absolute best. So when you buy a smartphone, you aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t satisfied with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153good enough\u00e2\u20ac\u009d\u00e2\u20ac\u201d you want the absolute best.<\/p>\n

I am a maximizer\u00e2\u20ac\u201d I always want the best. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153settling.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I do shitloads of research on every camera, smartphone, laptop, smartphone out there\u00e2\u20ac\u201d to not have the fear that I am \u00e2\u20ac\u0153missing out.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d But honestly at the end of the day; all of our material possessions will fade and crumble into dust.<\/p>\n

Remember how hot the iPhone 3G was when it came out? (that sexy clamshell design). Then remember how much people had a nerd-boner for the iPhone 4 (slick aluminum). Then the iPhone 5 (it has half an inch more screen!). Then the iPhone 6 (it is bigger!).<\/p>\n

Whenever I have an urge to buy anything new, I look at older versions and remember how sexy and slick they were. Now they look like shit. Have you seen an old clamshell white Macbook and all the dirt it accumulated? Or the original Macbook Pro (without retina screen)\u00e2\u20ac\u201d how big, heavy, and dated it looks?<\/p>\n

Same with the Leica M9, when it came out it was the shit. Now it looks kinda shitty compared to the new Leica M240 (the M9 has the worst LCD screen I have ever used). And within 2-3 years the new Leica M will come out, and everyone will see their M240 as dated.<\/p>\n

Time is the ultimate resource<\/h2>\n

No matter how rich you are; you can never buy more time.<\/p>\n

Protect your time like the stream won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t flow any longer.<\/p>\n

If you have a full-time job; refuse to answer emails after you get off work at 6pm. If someone offers you a few hundred bucks for your time (and you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need the money), politely refuse. Use your weekends and when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not<\/em> working to the fullest.<\/p>\n

Wake up early (4:30am) and do some early-morning shooting, do some writing, or reading. Go to work (drink lots of coffee) and grind through the day. Get off work immediately at 6pm, go shoot, read more, write more, paint, or pursue your art. Have a nice meal with a friend, turn off your smartphone, and savor every second of your conversation.<\/p>\n

When you go home, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t watch Netflix, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on Facebook, Instagram, or check your email. Pass the fuck out (after a long-day deserved of your hard work) and sleep early (9pm). Then you will have sufficient time to pursue your passions (even while having a 40-hour work-week).<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe that having a full-time job as a photographer will give you more freedom. You will still have to answer emails, manage social media, drive to see clients, pay bills, file taxes, and all the other bullshit that comes from running your own business. You might actually have less<\/em> time to shoot your personal photography if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a full-time wedding or commercial photographer.<\/p>\n

I think happiness isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t about achieving all your life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s goals and desires\u00e2\u20ac\u201d but rather to adjust yourself to your current circumstances and find the best out of it (credit to Epicurus and Epictetus).<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quit your job\u00e2\u20ac\u201d find more free time outside of work to do your passion. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ditch your family\u00e2\u20ac\u201d do your personal photography of your kids and your partner. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t desire more money, use the camera you already own to photograph what is before you. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t desire to travel\u00e2\u20ac\u201d photograph your own hometown (no matter how boring).<\/p>\n

A life of leisure is to spend every minute of your day not<\/em> being a slave. You can still be a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153free man\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while having a 9-5 job; just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be married to your job. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fall victim to wanting to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153advance in your career\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (if you dislike your job). Just see your job as something that pays the bills\u00e2\u20ac\u201d that enables you to not<\/em> be homeless, and to have some money to pursue your passion in photography.<\/p>\n

Now go forth friend; a life of leisure awaits you.<\/p>\n

Love always,
\nEric<\/p>\n

Friday, 12:56pm, @ Ilcafffe in Downtown LA, with a nice Stumptown espresso (only drank half, already overly-caffeinated). Time to have a nice lunch, take a nap, and do another epic workshop this weekend<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Quotes from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the Shortness of Time\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/h2>\n

Here are my favorite quotes from Seneca on his letter, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153On the Shortness of Time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Feel these for a kick in the ass for inspiration:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be wasteful of life)<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wealth however modest, if entrusted to a good custodian, increases with use, so our lifetime extends amply if you manage it properly.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Life is long if you know how to use it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153One man is gripped by insatiable greed, another by a laborious dedication to useless tasks.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Many are occupied by either pursuing other people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s money or complaining about their own.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Many pursue no fixed goal, but are tossed about in ever-changing designs by a fickleness which is shifting, inconstant, and never satisfied with itself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIt is but a small part of life that we live.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153All the rest is not life but merely time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are choked by their own blessings. How many find their riches a burden.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6dash about the city on your social obligations.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Call to mind when you ever had a fixed purpose.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6unaware of your losses.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You are dying prematurely.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You act like mortals in all that you fear and like immortals in all that you desire.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How stupid to forget our mortality.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153How much sweat those blessings gleaming through every land cost him, how many secret anxieties they concealed.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You let time slip away as though it were something superfluous and replaceable.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No activity can be successfully pursued by an individual who is preoccupied\u00e2\u20ac\u201d since the mind when distracted absorbs nothing deeply, but rejects everything is crammed into it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Living is the least important activity of the preoccupied man, yet there is nothing which is harder to learn.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Learning how to live takes a whole life, and it takes a whole life to learn how to die.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Many of the finest men have put aside all their encumbrances, renouncing riches and business and pleasure, and made it their one aim up to the end of their lives to know how to live.”<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is the sign of a great man and one who is above human error, not to allow his time to be frittered away; he has he has the longest possible life simply because whatever time was available he devoted entirely to himself.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153None of the time lay fallow and neglected, none of it under another\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s control; for being an extremely thrifty guardian of his time he has never found anything for which it was worth exchanging.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The man who spends all his time on his own needs, who organizes everyday as though it were his last; neither longs for nor fears the next day.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For what new pleasures can any hour now bring him? He has tried everything, and enjoyed everything to repletion.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6trifle with life\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most precious commodity [time]\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nobody works out the value of time: men use it lavishly as if it cost nothing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is easy to organize an amount, however small, we have to be careful in preserving what will cease at an unknown point.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They spend their lives in organizing their lives.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Putting things off is the biggest waste of life; it snatches away each day as it comes.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The whole future lies in certainty; live immediately.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWhy do you linger? Why are you idle? If you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t grasp it first, it flees.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Drink quickly [time] as though from a rapid stream what will not always flow.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This very day is escaping.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The present is short, the future doubtful, the past is certain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In the present we have only one day at a time, each offering a minute at a time.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The present time is extremely short.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The preoccupied have [their time] stolen from them while they are involved in their many distractions.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They reflect how pointlessly they acquired things they never would enjoy, and how all their toil has been in vain.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153For those who life is far removed from all business it must be amply long. None of it is frittered away; none of it is superfluous; the whole of it is well invested.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You could not call theirs a life of leisure, but an idle preoccupation. Do you call that man leisured who arranges with anxious precision his Corinthian bronzes, the cost of which is inflated by the mania of a few collectors, and spends most of the day on rusty bits of metal? Who classifies his herds of pack-animals in pairs according to age and color? Theirs is not leisure but indolent occupation.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Self-indulgence is the right word for unlearning the ordinary habits of human life.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They are not at leisure whose pleasures involve a serious commitment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nobody will dispute that those people are busy about nothing who spend their time on useless literary studies.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Romans have been afflicted by the pointless enthusiasm for useless knowledge.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People spend useless efforts on these same topics.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only those are really alive. They annex every age to theirs; all the years that have passed before them are added to their own.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We are excluded from no age, but we have access to them all; we are prepared in loftiness of mind to pass beyond the narrow confines of human weakness, there is a long period of time through which we can roam.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Give ourselves wholeheartedly to the past, which is limitless and eternal and can be shared with better men than we?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6distracted by varied desires?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hope excites more hope and ambition more ambition. They do not look for an end to their misery, but simply change the reason for it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When you see a man wearing the robe of office, or one whose name is often spoken in the Forum, do not envy him; these things are won at the cost of life. In order that one year may be dated from their names they will waste their own years.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153No one keeps death in view, no one refrains from hopes that look far ahead.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear friend,\u00c2\u00a0life is brutally short; live a life of leisure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/79900013.jpg?fit=3087%2C2048&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}