The New American Dream

It's time for this country to stop believing the lies and chasing the consumerist dream.

Ever since I was a child, the ideal of the American Dream has been sold to me, one way or the other, by those who believed it was the only way to live your life.

Get your education.

Work a job.

Raise a family.

Own a home.

Love your country.

Pay your taxes.

Retire at 72.

Travel the world.

It was a perfect lifestyle created by the marketing machine after our victory in World War II, one that shifted from the dream of equality to the dream of consumerism.

We were taught if we just worked hard enough, we could have a slice of the American Pie, one that would satisfy our deepest hunger and fill our belly with happiness until the day we died.

This country ate it up! People started giving their lives and money for something much sweeter in life.

They traded the sense of adventure for a sense of false security, the open roads for concrete jungles, and the ability to live comfortably for overwhelming debt. They gave up their souls to have the best of everything this country offered.

Now, many decades later, that sweetness is gone. It's been replaced by the bitter taste of suffering and despair. And it's all because of over consumption.

What started out as a beautiful dream had become a hellish nightmare.

Photo by Greg Rakozy / Unsplash

The great awakening.

In the last ten years, many Americans have finally awoken to the reality we were all sold an ingenious lie, one that shackled us to the love of consumerism and imprisoned us to a life of debt. Some people realized they were chasing a dream that was never their own and it was leading them to a life of unhappiness.

My own awakening happened several years ago.

My son and I were talking about how younger people were fed up with trying to live the way our older generations had taught them. His generation wanted a different type of life which had nothing to do with lasting careers, property ownership, blind patriotism, or an expensive education, which they deemed worthless values in today's culture.

Rather than sell their souls to buy things they didn’t need or want, they were investing their money into experiences, choosing to pursue jobs and activities that brought them meaning and happiness.

These youthful visionaries decided to opt out of the lies sold to them by greedy capitalists and their aging grandparents to follow a dream that was their own.

And his thoughts resonated within my soul.

On that day I realized the seemingly delicious slice of American Pie I’d slowly been eating since childhood was poisoning and killing me.

So I threw it all away!

Photo by Yohann Lc / Unsplash

The new dream belongs to you.

We've wasted too much time allowing others to define the American standard of success and then convincing us we should achieve it. It's time for us to take our lives back and decide what is best for ourselves.

For me and my wife, this has meant selling almost everything we own to travel the world, while investing our income into living amazing experiences now. We've stopped chasing the American Dream and started chasing our own, while doing everything we can to ignore what the world around us says we should do.

Your dream might be completely different and that's great, but you must define it in order to achieve it. This also means you must ask yourself what really matters.

Is it endless debt, huge mortgages, high interest rates, shiny objects, prestigious titles, and being guilted into living how our parents lived?

Is it endless freedom, cheaper living, beautiful memories, wonderful vacations, experiencing joy, and living how you want to live?

There’s nothing wrong with wanting a better life, but very few Americans can define exactly what that means because the great marketing machine has already done that for them. What does that mean for you?

On our journey we've met so many people who have chosen to do something different and they're extremely happy and fulfilled. So are we!!!

My hope today is you will take time for yourself to figure it out.

Dream it. Define it. Live it.