Life Is Not In The Details Essays Example

We lead frantic lives, constantly running to reach our ever changing goals. We fill our life with things, trying to pack it to the full only to feel overwhelmed. We worry about the small things and torture ourselves into a manufactured perfection, but the truth is, Life is not in the details. Rather as Thoreau says, “Our life is frittered away by detail.” This quote is part of Henry David Thoreau’s work called the Walden. While writing Walden, Thoreau was going through a journey of self and spiritual discovery living in a forested land with the barest of minimum. It was a social experiment of sorts that he conducted to see if he could live with the minimal of things.
When Thoreau says our life is frittered away by detail, he refers to the physical and the emotional clutter that we have surrounded ourselves with. He says that people of all ages and races waste away their lives with insignificant details rather than focus on the big picture. Neither does man think of how to live in one with nature. When all men need is basics such as food, shelter and clothing, Thoreau says that there is no need to fritter away one’s life with luxuries. When people block away the small trivia and other encumbrance from their lives says Thoreau, life would be less stressful and they would be free to indulge in profound thoughts. Thoreau’s quote although written more than a century still holds true. He had written these words when technology was slowly making an impact in human lives. Although he was talking about railroads and telegraph in his essay, he was focusing mainly on the array of things that had begun to take over human existence.
We hold grudges that should have been long forgotten, wasting precious moments of our lives hatching plans to get back at someone who may or may not remember us. We do not stop to think how much obsession with these details damage our physical and mental health. A typical morning for many of us would involve a shower, a substantial amount of time spent on what to wear, how to do our hair, what to carry with us and deciding on what to do for the rest of the day at the office or in college. The few hours in the morning are symptomatic of the rest of our lives. We do so many things and think of different issues before we can do a simple task as going to work or leaving the house. Many of us also have more than one phone, a laptop, e-readers and other gadgets that crowd our lives. Although technology is good, we cannot let it take over our lives. We believe and are made to believe that technology simplifies our life. But the truth is that we are addicted to our devices. We hear phantom phone rings, sleep with our phones and wake up with it only to check what has happened when we were sleeping. This obsession with what is happening in our lives, the lives of others and around the world are what Thoreau talks about when he says our lives are frittered away by details.
These small details not only affect our lives but the lives of others also. Surrounding ourselves with gadgets that are not recyclable and requires extensive mining of resources places a lot of stress on the planet and the natural resources. When we start to give importance to the details in life, we slowly lose track of the real reason of our existence. Life slowly becomes a rat race. We go to college, compete with everyone, go to work, think about the next promotion or the next hike in salary. We also live in a very consumerist society, where more is not frowned upon but very welcome. We are constantly bombarded with messages and images that ask us to buy more when we can least afford it. The joy that we get out of the material things when we look at it closely is quite short lived. But the amount of money and the energy that we spend on getting it places enormous pressure on our lives which in the end is not worth it. My life is an example in itself.
I was a high achiever in college. I had a great job, made lots of money and travelled the world. I also filled my life with as many gadgets and expensive toys that money could buy. But this euphoria of having made my mark in the world lasted only for a few years. I came very close to burning out and realized that my achievements weren’t much. Everyone could make money when they put in the right effort and time. I realized too late that I had done nothing of significance in my life. I did not want fame nor did I want to leave a great legacy behind. What I wanted was some peace of mind and the conviction that I played a small part in making the world a small place. I realized that the major reason for me burning out was my obsession for details. I wanted to be a perfectionist in life. I had to have that promotion in two years when it took three years normally. I wanted more than one house. I was not satisfied with one car, I wanted more than one and I dreamt of owning a boat someday. I also became a knowledge junkie, falsely believing that if I read everything possible I could be knowledgeable about everything. I was wrong. One day I quit my job and spent a week doing nothing. It was the best week of my life in a long time. I gave away my thing, my house became clutter free and so did my mind. Now I do what I like and what relaxes me. I travel and I write about it and make enough to keep me happy. Not everyone has to do what I did. Each one has their own definition of happiness. However what is important is that we understand what is important in our lives and if out happiness is at the cost of someone else’s. Too many details in our lives in whatever form is not healthy. The more we let go of things that peaceful we are.
Thoreau got it right a century ago when life was not this complicated. In our complicated fast paced lives, perhaps we can take a minute to think of what Thoreau says and try not to fritter our lives with details.