Prada =EQUALS= Nada

     In our culture from a very young age we are taught that the more we obtain and the richer we are the better off we are in this life. Nearly eight months ago, I began to venture down a path that I would have never envisioned myself going down. The road of anti-consumerism. The more I learn of the lack of sustainability in our culture's chosen path the more I despise this constant need for bigger and better things. The consumer has fed into, therefore supported, an endless cycle of consumption. In the attempt to understand where this desire comes from I think back to my younger days.... the moment of thrill that I would have walking out of the store with a new item swinging from hand in a shiny plastic bag. Often times, that new item would be a different version of something I already had cluttering my home. My point is, that it is that fleeting moment of joy that has somehow enamored us.

We know deep down inside that the lack of or abundance of material possessions and money does not create happiness, respect, love, security, or anything that all those commercials insinuate that we will gain if we purchase their product. We are smarter than that!

 

I quickly began to correlate that the less I picked up that remote, crossed the threshold into those automatic doors, and perused the magazines at the grocery store queue...... the less I felt I actually needed. The other day I found myself in a store which I had formerly loved, and I felt ill as I looked around and saw all of these young girls pouring their time, energy, and resources into something so completely pointless. Then I stopped and thought to myself,

"AH! April, you have truly jumped off the hippy deep end!"

But have I?

 

Countless studies have shown that money and material possessions does not make one happy or fulfilled. Studies have actually gone to prove just the opposite, that in fact people that see an increase in their money and possessions report a decrease in their general feelings of happiness and fulfillment. Opening my mailbox this morning I was captured by these bolded red words on an envelope with a return address from Vogue magazine that read:

April, We miss you!

 

 

Dear Vogue-

I bet you do! This is my response to you, I have no intention of renewing my magazine subscription... even if you give me six free issues. I will no longer waste my precious time on this earth filling my brain with the idea that I am less of a person because I don't have a runway worthy handbag or the iPhone87.

Material possessions do not make me.

Yes, I may be blonde... however I am far from dumb. I see how young girls struggle with self image on a daily basis as they look back at themselves in the mirror.... and the message that you send them is one that if they submit then they too will be pretty and acceptable. I call bullshit!

Sincerely,

April Netschke

 

P.S. And by the way, keep your lies away from my young influential daughter! My daughter will know that she is amazing because she has vision, drive, humor, empathy, class, humility, strength, perseverance... not because of what is on her back, what she drives, or what is in her wallet.





 

Present in the Moment

At the base of Exit Glacier, where the gray run off waters run over the smooth black pebbles, I sit beside the stream watching the sun dip behind the snowcapped peaks. Naturally I equate this moment as the ideal moment to find my inner peace so I meditate. Like so many of my meditation practices, in my attempt to be fully present in the moment during meditation I find my mind wandering to insignificant moments in the days prior and plans for the days to come. I glance to the flowing water beside me and realize that in this present moment in time the water that is called stream, was once called glacier, and eventually will be given the title of ocean. However, in that instant, in that present moment, what it was and what it will be are insignificant to what it is now. The water is ever flowing, ever changing, and the beauty was in the significance of noticing the present, acknowledging it, and being mindfully immersed.

180° South or North in Her Case

     There is this clip during my sister's and my favorite documentary, 180 Degrees South, where it is said, "Well what happens when you get to the edge of the cliff. Do you take one step forward or do 180° turn and take one step forward? Which way you goin? Which is progress?' The solution to many of the world's problems maybe to turn around and to take a forward step. You can't just keep trying to make a flawed system work." - Douglas Tompkins

     I am lounged with my socked toes perched on the dashboard of our rental car that is precariously parked atop a cliff watching the waves and glancing every few moments at our bright yellow tent to see if my sister has awoken. This morning, after a restful nights sleep on the sandy shore of the beach, I felt inspired to write.I can't help but draw connections between my sister's journey and the 180 Degrees South documentary. So, I have come here to witness my sister's transition and take part on an adventure as she journeys from Seward, Alaska to a remote island off the coast of Kodiak called Raspberry Island. It is there, on that remote island, that she will be working as a hiking and sea kayaking guide. I know.... right?!

     Taking a few steps back, 4 months back, I can't help but examine her decision and what led her to this place in this very moment in time. She was working a job that she had pursued with all that she had. Recently she had even been promoted from a police officer to a detective, which was the precise reason why she had gotten into law enforcement. She was great at her job and helped so many of the people that she served until one day she decided that she was simply no longer happy. She was tired of combatting and witnessing so much evil, it was as she simply stated "time to see some beauty."

    She dug her heals into the hard ground, shifted that body weight, and swung 180°. She applied and was hired for a seasonal minimum wage position in Alaska (where I am convinced that every nature photograph and film is shot given it's unfathomable diverse beauty). She donated every material procession that had her name on it, sold her car, put in her notice at work, and packed what she could into a backpack.

     This is where I need to insert my opinion. It is this: there may be no other act that is as inspiring as reaching "success" in our modern culture, deciding it's not your definition of success, and changing your life. Life is too short to live in such a way that you are aware that there is something greater and yet you don't fully pursue it. She has been a living example to me to fully be true to myself, even in the face of fear and excuses.

    So this morning I watch the waves lap on to the shore, breaking into a white splash over the jagged rocks yet smoothing the sandy shore before retreating. I take notice that from inside the car where I sit a bumble bee struggles to find an exit as he paces back and fourth on the transparent window. After pacing back and fourth for over twenty minutes, wings flapping angrily. He ascends off the window, turns 180°, and fly's out the open car window beside me. 

Lunch on a Hood

      Just another boring night shift at work. Doing rounds I glimpse out the window and notice that the sun is beginning to rise and is painting the sky a  whole rainbow of hues. So tonight I thought instead of taking my lunch at the desk, I'd rather spend it propped against the hood of my car watching the sky morph in front of me. So outside I went.

      I couldn't help but think that routine often snuffs out the ability to notice beauty.... or perhaps we don't recognize beauty in the things we see so often... because we simply see it too often.

      My questions venture further... Is it the rarity that makes it so beautiful. I then ask myself are adventurers the ones with the most beautiful lives because of the notion that they themselves are unaware of what shore lies beyond the jagged outcropping that their sailboat navigates around? Is it the lack of foresight that makes life so beautiful. Propped up against the hood of my car my eyes glanced heavenward to daydream about the destination of planes as they cross the sky, but instead, something downward caught my eye. Something that was moving. I looked down, and in my stillness, a baby cottontail rabbit was crossing the parking lot. I couldn't help but notice what a beautiful creature this little rabbit is. The sunlight peaking over the horizon and through the trees was illuminating the frailty of his little fuzzy ears. Noticing that his stubby tail truly does resemble a piece of cotton.  I couldn't help but feel that I need to live a life that is less routine and with wandering eyes. Just because I am a driven person with ambition, does not mean that I shouldn't allow the perfect northern wind to guide me south. It's in the spontaneity of that wind that one may find beauty. A rich and fulfilled life is an accumulation of those small noticed beauties.