Avoid The Burden Of Living The American Dream

Living the American Dream can become an overwhelming burden. Deep down inside, you know this to be true.

The American Dream cited in the Declaration of Independence is harmless enough. Some say it has become a beacon of light shining around the globe.

“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”

Those words are legendary.

Has living the American Dream evolved into something sinister?

Are you chasing the American Dream?

Are you living the American Dream?

Are you happy?

Learn to avoid the burden of living the American Dream.

What Is Living The American Dream?

What is living the American Dream?

Living the American Dream for me means having the ability to pursue a happy life that is uniquely your own. The choice is always yours.

The American Congress completed The Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. The document forms the foundation of the idea of living The American Dream.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

-Declaration of Independence

The most iconic image of living the American Dream is the white picket fence, a large home in suburbia, and at least one luxury car or truck in the garage. She was accompanied by weekends off, paid holidays, and yearly vacations.

Professionally, the iconic image of living the American Dream is a corner office for white-collar jobs and pride for well-paying blue-collar jobs and large yearly bonuses.

What Happened To Living The American Dream?

Beyond the iconic images of living the American Dream, it has evolved and may not be what the American founding fathers originally had in mind.

Living the American Dream has evolved into making a lot of money (how does not matter), buying a big house and fancy cars, and owning all the latest must-have junk.

What do you think?

It has become common for people to work themselves to achieve this new American Dream. Buying things you don’t need has become a sign of success.

I don’t believe the American founding fathers meant living the American Dream to evolve into acquiring as much stuff as possible. Does that even make people happy?

Does greed drive the new American Dream? Has it evolved from helping the poor and unfortunate become independent, as symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, to exploiting them to obtain more wealth?

Is living the American Dream for you?

I often wonder if it’s for me or has left me behind.

Is it just me, or do you find that more and more Americans live for others to point out how fancy their homes, cars, clothing, latest electronic gadgets, and the like are?

Is the sole purpose of Social Media?

Is that living the American Dream?

The Burden Of Living The American Dream

Society teaches most Americans that success means graduating college, landing a great job, working hard, paying bills, saving money, and retiring early.

Does that sound good to you?

To achieve today’s American Dream, it’s customary to believe that you must practice this daily grind. That may consist of rush-hour traffic, working more than 8 hours daily, cubical farms, overflowing email inboxes, and regularly completing paperwork.

What do you think? Are many people following this path so they can acquire more things? Is that living the American Dream?

Is the pursuit of acquiring more and more stuff killing us?

The average American home includes an astonishing 300,000 or more items, and spends over 1.2 trillion dollars on useless stuff.

Is it a coincidence the current generation of Americans is the most stressed out, drugged, and depressed in history?

Currently, over 253 billion dollars are being spent on advertisements to encourage people to spend more money to achieve the American Dream.

As a result, more than half of Americans don’t use all of their paid vacation days. Even when they take time off, many find it difficult to disconnect from the office, continue checking emails, or even take calls. 

The Bible talks more about materialism than any other topic in the scriptures. Jesus often spoke about the trappings of money. The new American Dream says you acquired all your unnecessary stuff because you earned and deserve it.

Ironically, that belief helps mentally numb us to the horrible burdens of living the American Dream.

Minimalism and Living The American Dream

As a simple minimalist, my idea of living the American Dream is more traditional.

I believe that all men are created equal, that we are all endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights, and that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Yes, I believe living the American Dream is the pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness.

I don’t believe in acquiring more and more stuff, and Hustle Porn has nothing to do with living the American Dream.

I don’t care about stuff. I like quality stuff, but not the stuff in general. I like doing the things I like most, such as spending free time and creating great memories with family and good friends.

That seems unusual and even impossible, but a constant barrage of advertisements 24 hours a day, seven days a week, leads us to believe we can buy products to achieve the American Dream.

Unfortunately, living the American Dream has become less important than being happy. Even worse, being successful has less importance than being happy.

You are even applauded for giving up some of what people are now calling the American Dream just to be happy. Duh!

I thought seeking happiness was intuitive, natural, and our default position. For me, the need to applaud is like praising someone for choosing to eat a few times a day.

It should be the natural thing to do.

How much stuff have you sold or thrown out every time you have moved homes? Imagine if the next place you move will only allow you two small boxes of stuff.

The world would not end. You would survive and even thrive because these would be the only items you use daily.

You would not be burdened with the stress of moving, storing, managing, and maintaining all of that other junk.

That is how I compare a Minimalist lifestyle to this new American Dream.

What do you think?

Conclusion

Parents, schools, social media, and the constant barrage of advertisements tell us that living the American Dream means acquiring more and more things to succeed.

I believe we can maintain the original idea of living the American Dream, keep quality time with family and good friends, and keep our freedoms.

The simple reality is that our material possessions will become someone else’s burden after death. Some people believe they will be passing along a legacy.

Would that be a legacy of living a happy life or a legacy of acquiring more, being unhappy, having mental therapy, and having depression?

There is nothing wrong with success and owning stuff, but how much does it relate to living the American Dream?

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