3 Reasons I No Longer Feel Guilty Spending on Experiences

 

How many breaks have you had in the last twelve months?

Just asking because today I realised that I no longer feel guilty spending on experiences. And for me the main experience is travel; getting out of my comfort zone and learning about new places, customs and cultures.

You know, over the last twelve months I’ve been to South Korea for a Soo Bahk Do (Korean karate for the non-initiated) retreat, to Florence for a long weekend and to Switzerland for a week of Soo Bahk Do camp. On Friday we are off to the lovely Greek island of Skiathos again.

This is a lot of travel for pleasure; and none of it comes cheap despite me doing my best to be a frugal artist.

Why, then, I feel no guilt spending on these trips? Won’t it be better to renovate the kitchen? Change the carpet in the hall and landing? Have the house decorated? Or even getting some new clothes?

The simple answer is that I no longer feel guilty spending on experiences for the following three reasons.

#1. Spending on experiences is top value for money

Spending on experiences lasts forever.

Yep. I know exactly how this one sounds: it sounds like the most annoying cliché ever.

Still, it isn’t. Experiences really last forever and give us pleasure repeatedly throughout our lives.

I won’t be surprised at all if one day, and I hope this day is far away, on my death bed I remember wondering through the Uffizi gallery in Florence with John. I would probably treasure forever the memory of practicing karate with my son; or eating kimchi and dreaming of chocolate.

Do you know the best part?

Spending on experiences is an incredible value for money because they stay as memories that give us pleasure forever. We can tweak memories so we never adapt to them; we never tire of them.

#2. Spending on experiences is a top investment

You can see this as an excuse to have some ‘instant gratification’. Or you can trust me when I tell you that today it is absolutely vital to be a maverick if you are to get anywhere in life; including, if you are to enjoy life.

Your call!

For myself, I know that spending is always transforming and in a good way.

In South Korea, for instance, I learned Soo Bahk Do. But this was not even one of the important things that I learned.

Do you want to know the three life transforming things that I learned? I learned that:

• I need very little to live on and I’m very adaptable.
• What achieves mastery is honesty: when not sure about technique don’t bodge it, slow down and work on the detail.
• Small kindness goes a very long way and makes large difference.

I think spending on experience in this case was very much worth it and was one of the best investments in myself.

To make sure that spending on experience is a top investment you’d need to keep an open mind, reflect and act.

#3. Spending on experiences means cool pictures

Okay. This has to be seen as what it is: a bit of a joke. Still, I took some really cool pictures in Switzerland that I’d like to share.

(When I sent one of them to John, his reply was ‘WTF’; and my very articulate husband is rarely that speechless. See why for yourselves.)

The clouds are rising, Jon Snow!

Simply majestic!

Humbling nature!

Hanging bridge!

This is all for today from me.

Do you spend on experiences or on things?