Depivation Increases Capacity

I often think that life gets smaller as we age. It's hard not to confront the reality of this living in a street of - mostly - retired older people and with a mother who now resides in an aged care facility. I have lived on this suburban street for three years and there are some people - a few doors up or down - that I have never seen outside, and quite a few neighbours who only go out once a week to stock up on groceries.

I don't know whether this is truly an inevitable part of aging or whether with an active lifestyle, a meat and vegetable diet, a positive attitude and engagement in a community we can defer this shrinking isolation until the very end of life. I'd like to think the latter is possible but I am not arrogant enough to think that I am any kind of exception to a rule.

I do, however, agree with Dan John that "deprivation increases capacity." Deprivation is such a negative word and not a condition that anyone in the modern world wants to willingly endure¹. In fact, most of modern life has become relentless journey to avoid deprivation and embrace comfort. We have become a society that self-medicates with food, drink, and possessions.

I was reminded of this recently when one of the youth in my life - all of mid-20's - told me they must have a toilet in the campervan they were renting for a few days. Doug and I lived in a three metre caravan with no toilet for six years, and on our last visit to Canada (2019) we spent five months travelling around in a Honda Odyssey with a few boards for a bed, a two burner gas stove and an esky. We lived in that minivan through rain, snow, sun, and wind, and I can't say I ever missed the fact that we did not have a toilet. Before toilets was squatting and if you want to build capacity do a bunch of squatting.

I used to listen to a training podcast where the host had a philosophy of not being "beholden" (his words) to anything in life. Every so often he would go six weeks without beer, or coffee, or some other item in his life that was a habit. That always seemed like a good philosophy to me. Never get into a position where there is some external thing in your life that you cannot go without. Deprivation builds capacity.

A month or so without something in your life that you previously deemed absolutely necessary but without which you survived or even thrived gives you confidence to try something even bigger and harder next time.

If you have to start small enjoying deprivation and building capacity, do so. Go one week or one day without eating any processed food, or without drinking alcohol or coffee. Stand instead of sit, sit on the floor instead of in a conventional chair. Deprivation increases capacity. Practice this everyday and watch your world expand again.

1Isn't it interesting that I used the word "endure" and not "embrace" or "enjoy"?