Madolyn Thinks

The weather over the past few weeks here in the U.K. has certain helped with my post America Traveling Blues. It’s been so so lovely and I’d even go as far as to say that San Fran was quite possibly a little chillier than Leeds has been lately, up here in the north of England!! 

Minus the weather however, San Fran definitely has one thing that Leeds doesn’t: A Mr Holmes Bakehouse. 

I fell in love with the city by the bay when I travelled there with my family years ago. I have been desperate to go back and have eagerly been waiting for the day that I could return. 

Although I was excited for all of the classic things the city has to offer (the Golden Gate Bridge, clam chowder, pier 39...) I was really looking forward to visiting one of the most Instagram worthy hot spots in San Francisco!! 

We had a trip to Alcatraz planned and so we waiting until then to visit Mr Holmes’ Bakehouse, the idea being that we would stop off on our way to Pier 33 and eat our breakfast on the go. Little did we realise that the bakery was located right around the corner from our accommodation!! Now, I don’t mean around the corner like a five-minute walk away, I mean literally, walk out of our hotel door, turn around the corner and it was there!!! 

After a few shots of me posing in my classic New York tee and faded blue Mon jeans, we could finally enjoy our little treats as we walked through San Fran, down towards the piers, for another day of sightseeing. 

Is it bad that I would actually consider flying back just for another taste of Mr Holme’s Bakehouse…?!

There is a constant message being shoved in our faces that we need more. We need more money; more clothes, more friends, a better car, a bigger house… and the pressure of this can feel immense. We are most certainly living in an era of “keeping up with the Jones’”, and in all honestly, it can feel absolutely exhausting. 

We work harder and for longer hours, in the hope that we can earn more money, so that we can spend the time we’re not at work, shopping and spending all of the money we have just gained. We are exposed to a constant stream of advertisements telling us to buy the next new thing on the market, making us feel as though the top/sofa/tv/car that we bought the other week is out of date, out of fashion and unacceptable. So we go back to our jobs, work harder; pick up an extra shift or two, to attain more money so that we can go shopping again.  

But what happens when we apply the word enough. 

What if we take a step back and think I have enough clothes, I have a big enough tv, I have a good enough car, I have a large enough living space. If we become happy with what we have then maybe we can say to ourselves that we already work enough hours, we work hard enough and ultimately, we earn enough money. 

Applying the word ‘enough’ into our daily lives can really change how we view our possessions. By applying the word enough, I found that I actually had too much. I found myself looking at things that I owed and realised that I didn’t need all of it. I realised that I was actually living in excess. 

Once I had incorporated the word enough into my lifestyle, I soon noticed that I wasn’t spending as nearly as much money as I had previously. I didn’t spend my money on things that wouldn’t add value to my life. This then allowed me to cut back on my hours at work, which then in turn gave me more time. It gave me time to focus on the things in life that I love, for one, writing this blog. 

So much pressure is placed upon our shoulders, burdening us, telling us that we should work constantly, build a career for ourselves, clime the corporate ladder. But that isn’t a lifestyle for everyone. Time is just as valuable as money, and day-to-day, it is in fact the only thing that we all have the same amount of. 

If we spend all of our time earning money to buy things to make us happy, are we truly happy?

Is there a point we can reach that says we can work enough, to pay for the essentials, so that we have enough time to live our lives?