Step 2 - Meeting your needs

Ok, so our time is all our own now. Hurray! There is nothing like the feeling of quitting your job. Suddenly you are free to do as you wish, at least for the moment. The world lies before you, and the feelings of youth and invincibility overwhelm you again. Being afraid of commitment had its upsides. Who wants to exchange 30 years of there life for a shelter, aka home? I think I missed the memo on that one. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I still have needs to be met. My body will need food soon, and water for that matter. It will also need shelter; clothing and a place to sleep. This are but the most basic of needs. And like most Americans I'm paying someone to meet those needs for me. As I enjoy living, I still need a way to meet those needs without being a wage slave.

Meeting them myself is a feasible option. Indeed, my choice is simply the method I chose. I was already meeting my needs. Thus far I have been exchanging my time for money. I then exchanged this money for my needs. Becoming a capitalist would mean I value my time. Exchanging such a valuable resource for what indirectly results in my most basic needs isn't a good return on my assets.

Let us reconsider how to meet those needs. I could chose to exchange my time for food, and shelter directly. This would seem to be a better exchange, although it would still utilize my finite resource of time. The pitfall here is placing myself in a situation not unlike slavery. If I am unable to give my time (aka work), I don't eat. For example, say I pursued this strategy by buying a bit of land and building a garden upon it. That garden will not bring forth a harvest without work. That investment of time needs to be considered.

Indeed, if time was to be valued most I could cease 'working' now; in the sense of the modern day, 9-5 job. Living in a field with a tent and dependent on nature for food would meet all my needs and cost me very little of my time to setup. However, this is not a desirable arrangement ₁. Freeing up all of one's time is futile.

1. Ecc. 2:24 There is nothing better for people than to eat and drink, and to find enjoyment in their work.