About These Posts

Each day I add a new journal entry to my social media feeds. Here, I take that day’s entry and expand it through the lens of my Good Life Creed, which you can read about in my book Going Alone (available for free on this website). These dissections aim to connect ordinary reflections with the enduring objectives and principles of the Creed.

Journal Entry (10/10/25)

I’m still surprised by how much my spending has dropped since retiring. I thought that with more free time, I’d naturally find new ways to spend—small impulse purchases, hobbies, or projects that quietly nibble at the wallet. But that hasn’t happened. In fact, my personal spending—the money I use for anything beyond household needs—has fallen off a cliff.

Gone are the days of wanting new things, apart from the occasional flea market antique to fill a quiet corner of our empty home. The days seem to pass quickly now, filled with small routines and unremarkable tasks that somehow take up the hours. They move steadily, like the ticking of my old clock that never quite keeps time—familiar, imperfect, and without much need for money to make them meaningful.

It’s an odd sort of irony, to have finally outgrown the habit that once kept me steady. For years, spending was a small jolt of distraction, a way to turn my eyes from something unsettled inside—an unease I never stopped long enough to face. That need has slipped away now, leaving behind a quiet space that asks nothing of me but my attention, and my honest effort toward peace.

Dissection

This reflection explores the peace that follows the fading of desire. What was once a reflex—to buy, to soothe, to distract—has fallen away, revealing a subtler contentment beneath. The tone is not ascetic, but balanced; not self-denying, but self-knowing.

In terms of the Good Life Creed, three key principles stand out:

#Temperance (The Principle of Temperance)

The quiet mastery of want. You’ve exchanged the stimulation of spending for the simplicity of being. The days now move on their own, without the crutch of consumption to give them weight.

#Reason (The Principle of Reason)

This newfound restraint is born of reflection. You’ve studied the motive behind your habits and uncovered the unease that drove them. Seeing it clearly was enough to dissolve its hold.

#Purpose (The Principle of Purpose)

With distraction gone, attention returns to what matters—to living peacefully and intentionally, guided not by acquisition but by presence.

Takeaway

The richest wealth is not what we possess, but what we no longer crave. When we stop reaching for more, we discover that enough has been here all along.