An unexpected sweater visit

A friend stopped by my flat yesterday to get her sweater, and we ended up talking until way past my bed time. Me and her, we always joke around on being hippies in the sea of economists. Which is rather strange since me and my dorky side enjoys snuggling behind economic theories, articles, thoughts, books and talks.

Having spent a year volunteering in Portugal, her way of living is what we call inefficient in economics term. She loves surprises, living by listening to her heart, thrives on being unconstrained by her agenda and most importantly is absolutely thrilled to meet and talk to new people. She is in short not someone you associate with organization and efficiency. Yet she couldnt be happier.

Me, on the other hand, acknowledges the scarcity of time, the need to produce the maximum value out of my limited resources. Dont get me wrong, I always take time for myself. I run every Sundays on the lake, I went to the market to drool over fresh fruits and vegetables, and my ideal Saturday is to lounge on my couch, a novel in hand and a cup of freshly brewed coffee peeking from the table infront.

However, I do completely realize how right she is. It is true that ever since I've lived here (in a "Western" world), I realized how busy we all are. We are running around from one appointments to another, meetings after meetings, talks cut short due to obligations. Not realizing how many opportunities of valuable rendezvous we missed unknowingly, unregrettfully.

Which brings me to my next thought: are we happier this way, to make use of our highly limited time here breathing, walking on concretes and tiles, or are we better off living without our watches, without our blackberries and unprecedented race towards the unknown?

I am still pondering on this, and yet I have to cut this post short as I have a meeting in 3 minutes.