A producer I’ve worked with on two films was taken aback the first time he visited my home.
Based on our interactions (and the fact that I’m an actor. I know. We have a rep) he was familiar with my really high standards for goods and services and thought he had me pegged as somewhat of a bon vivant. He was, however, bemused to see that my living space, in comparison, was distinctly Spartan.
He initially wondered whether I was going for a sleek “minimalist” look but then realized that that wasn’t quite it. Looking around, he saw that I just didn’t have a lot of “stuff”. I explained to him that although I love the good things in life, having too many of them made me very uncomfortable.
I’ve always felt that too many material possessions just attract dust and, when left unused, negative energy and are, frankly, excess baggage. I love acquiring new things but, when I do, I always give something (or 5 things!) away.
He was initially slightly bewildered and couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the dichotomy these personality extremes posed but he eventually made peace with the concept by dubbing me “The Opulent Ascetic”.
I have accepted the title with pride and I’m going to try and share aspects of both these sides of my personality and everything in between here. I’ve never blogged before and the idea kind of terrifies me – I’m not a man of many words and, initially, I couldn’t think of a damn thing to say. But, hey – if someone can come up with a title like that, I can give blogging a try. Or else, this may be my first and last post. We’ll see…
But enough about me. How are you?
Hey Rahul…welcome to the blog-world…we need more posts! You write really well! And it's lovely to know more about you through these posts. How refreshing to hear about your views on things and stuff. I completely agree with what you said. Not against acquiring possessions, but stuff can actually hold us back from change if not kept under control. I am currently in the process of letting go of things collected over the last decade. Seems like a huge and difficult task. After reading this, I feel like I'd love to live like you
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