“When we agree to live simply, we put ourselves outside of others’ ability to buy us off, reward us falsely, or control us by money, status, salary, punishment, and loss or gain of anything.” Richard Rohr
Some books turn things upside down in a good way. Sometimes we think the key to success, especially in business, is to get more and be bigger, but this author offers an alternative with the science of resourcefulness. Stretch has valuable insights on a variety of topics and it’s not just about the pursuit of less stuff, there are implications for rethinking our life goals both professionally and personally. Being ‘stretchy‘ or ‘chasy‘ are not inherently good or bad, let’s not get ‘judgy’ or ‘preachy’ either! But being aware of these tendencies can be life changing.
Everyone knows having the right tool for a job is essential and the thrill of buying something new, well thought out, and hard-earned is not to be diminished. But chasing can result in an abundance of things we don’t regularly use or really love. When we have fewer things, it raises the value of the things we choose to keep. During the pandemic we learned new ways of living life, finding ways to pivot given loss, limitation, and restrictions. We made things work, we stretched our resources, and we went shopping in our own closets (or wore the same sweatpants every day for a week–man, have I ever learned to value sweatpants!). For me there was a certain satisfaction in that. Simple things like toilet paper and home-baked bread became newsworthy and remarkable. I love that! The author says that being ‘stretchy’ is key in adapting to change.
Sonenshein offers a refreshing antidote to the chasing mindset of consumerism and comparison which is in the very air we breathe. He has made me stop and think for half a second about if what I am doing at that moment is actually ‘stretchy‘ or ‘chasy‘ and I’ve found that hugely helpful!
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