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Eat this: Fat, sugary foods that make your teeth water and give no resistance when you chew. Take this: Pleasure releasing, dopamine triggering substances that give instant satisfaction; nicotine, ethanol. Do this: Sweet, sweet lovin’. Bake in the sun, devouring a novel. No work. A lifelong holiday.

Five years ago, if someone asked me what “the good life” was, I would have mumbled something like that. Something about reading thick books in my sofa and gulping down merlot. I’d probably include a packet of Lucky Strikes every day and single malt whiskey in a jar. Then I’d added baking in the sun, preferably in Melbourne or some other relaxed city, consuming my thick book and smoking the Luckies. Then maybe strolling down to the video store, renting a dvd and watching it with my girlfriend in my arm, on our sofa. After the film, she and I could round off the perfect day. Then maybe another Lucky Strike.

Just writing about it makes me long for it. Long hot summer nights. Friends and laughter. No projects. No worries.

It could go on for weeks.

But could it be “the good life”?

Sure it sounds nice.

Maybe it could include golfing. I don’t golf, but I’ve tried pitch and put, and it was a lot of fun. Golfing seems nice — people do enjoy it a lot. Yes, the good life needs a bit of golfing.

Going for walks in the evening. Dining out. Cinemas, theaters. What a life! Massages, trips to Thailand, Spain and Italy.

I bet it would be quite relaxing.

But then what…

Could it go on forever?

Here’s what I think: After three months, I’d be bored to tears. After a year, I’d be fat, developing diabetes type 2, and have no energy left. After another year, I’d go swimming face down in the Andaman sea, and simply not bother to turn around when I went out of air.

Why?

What’s wrong with the picture?

What’s the problem here?

Is it just one, or are there several?

What do you think?

Use the Comment section and talk to me. Leave a reply. I’m listening.

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