I am flirting again with the issue of needs vs. wants as the ability to satisfy my wants shrinks. Needs should be as simple as food, shelter, clothing. In our complicated culture, basic needs include insurance, cell phone service, gasoline and more. Everything else, though, is a want. Our consumer culture has created the relentless desire for more, more, more, and we have the luxury to act on our wants, unlike most of the world.
Our culture also blinds us to the gray zone that lies between needs and wants.Life is never black and white. Life is not just needs and wants, just materials things. I propose a third category: nants ( somewhere between needs + wants). Vital to life, but not required to be physically alive. They are downright critical to our mind and spirit. Nants are soul food; the things that enliven our spirit, challenge our minds, and bring inner peace. Examples: music, poetry, beautiful artwork, majestic scenery, meditation, prayer, resting in the great outdoors, walking in a lilac-scented neighborhood, sewing, and other creative pursuits.Technically we don’t NEED nants to survive, but they make life enjoyable and keep us connected to the divine. Unlike endless consuming, nants provide for our soul, they bring us peace.
My nants are obvious: beautiful scenery, living close to nature, walking, flat water kayaking, gardening, birding, sitting outside under a full moon, travel, connecting with God. I love the peace that comes from sewing and crafty things. Writing! Reading about real life adventures in the outdoors. One of my favorite recent nant experiences was staying a week in a yurt along the Platte River during peak migration season. The cottonwood forest was already in winter mode and a light snow fell one afternoon. I rested deeply, both physically and spiritually. The experience of the “in-between season” fed me deeply. I need these outdoor nants. Needing nants, which is why they are vital to life.
Some nants are closer to wants but still soul-sustaining. After living in isolated rural settings, I learned that my nants also include a library, access to art, and a coffee shop with outdoor seating. Double down on the library! Here the library overlooks Lake CdA and has multiple fireplaces with ample seating and free Internet. Furthermore, with my brand new library card, I have access to ALL the public libraries in Idaho. Where I lived previously I had to pay $20 to check out items at each public library that I wanted to use.Just imagine how much I could learn about growing potatoes, here in Idaho.
Back to the needs/nants/wants issue. Why do we spend so much time satisfying our wants? It is what we are supposed to do.However, the wants distract us from the nants, which we learn later are what really matters. Enter in the most over-used phrase: take more time to smell the roses.
