Money for Less Choices

Last weekend, Simon and I went away to a National Park an hour east of Pretoria. On the way, I started thinking about what we would be doing there: Maybe go for a walk, read a book, have a braai, maybe go on a game drive – nothing spectacular.

More importantly, nothing we couldn’t also have done in Pretoria. We have a lovely pool with a proper water slide that probably beats most hotel pools, there is a nature reserve just around the corner and I could read my book in a comfy chair in my own garden.

So there was nothing that would justify going there and yet Simon and I were willing to drive an hour and spend money on staying in the Nature Reserve.

And as I thought about it, I realised why: We were not paying to have more or different things to do. No, in fact, we were paying to have less things to do!

On a weekend at home, I could go to the gym, do some shopping, go out for lunch, browse a bit on the internet or meet friends for a drink. What is wrong with that, you might think. And the answer is nothing at all. They are all perfectly nice things and I enjoy them.

But they are (or at least can be) things that stand in the way between you and a relaxing weekend. At home, I can easily end up running around all weekend long without taking any time to actually relax.

But when I go out of town, there is nothing that distracts me from relaxing and unwinding.

There is no internet that I could use to respond to some mails, research a holiday or sort out my health insurance. There is no gym class at 8am that would stop me from staying in bed as long as I want to. And there are no shops I could swing by, places I could check out or parties I might go to.

There is nothing but time. Time to drink a glass of wine and chat; time to sit by the pool and read; time to go on a walk and watch the grasshoppers; time to braai and look at the stars; time to count the fireflies and watch Mars rise in the sky…

Time to do absolutely nothing without feeling guilty about it at all because there is nothing to do anyway. And that is what we are paying for.