Minimising Responsibilities

For some reason, when I reached young adulthood I started to take on various responsibilities. Well I say for some reason, but isn’t that what young adults do. Isn’t that what defines us a young adults.

Living at home in your early/mid twenties becomes embarrassing so I moved out into a bedsit and became responsible for the rent. Tick.

I started paying bills, and had all sorts of contracts for which I was now responsible. Tick.

My supermarket shelf stacking job also became a bit of an embarrassment to me, so I took the responsible path and embarked on a career. Tick.

Some years later I bought a house and now I had the responsibility of paying the mortgage each month. For twenty-five years. Tick tock.

I became responsible for all these things, but I never fully took responsibility for my life. Not really. And the more things I was responsible for, the more difficult it was to take responsibility for my life. I had allowed society to direct where my responsibilities should lie.

Today I’m renting a condo in Bangkok. My wife asked if we should look to buy one in the future and I replied that I am loving the lack of responsibility of renting. I love the lack of responsibility of condo life in general. I get to eat my breakfast every day in a beautiful well-kempt roof garden without a single concern about how the garden is maintained. The lights are in good working order, the paths are swept, the lawns and plants are watered and flourishing and none of it is on me. I rarely even see the activity that keeps the garden looking so lovely. It’s a magic garden. Similarly, I have no responsibility for the cleaning and maintenance of the pool, the gym, the co-working space or the lobby area, yet I get full use of them all. The only responsibility we have is to keep the condo clean and to pay the rent. And keeping those small, modern condos clean is a breeze.

When we stay in the north of Thailand my father-in-law gives us use of his car. Again no real responsibility. No worry about maintenance or ongoing insurance that we would have if we owned a car. I give my father-in-law a small amount of money for using the car and that’s it. When we move on, we simply give him the car back. These days many people are tied to the lease or finance of a car and it becomes another millstone round their neck like a mortgage.

The beauty of having fewer responsibilities is that you have more headspace and energy for yourself. Most of all it engenders a sense of freedom.