We have been in Europe for a week now. And we have done our holidays the way we have always done it in the past - to find value and meaning and draw lessons that will stay with us for an entire lifetime as a family. And to achieve that we often have found the peace to let go of conveniences and comfort, if we must.The clear example this time round works out like this. Thea lives as a student in Leuven, Belgium. She has a neat little room in a building with 16 such rooms that houses students just like her. This last week that we were to be in Belgium, two rooms on her floor were vacant as her friends were out of town.
We grabbed the opportunity to stay with her, making use of those rooms. Why, we could have stayed comfortably in a nearby hotel or motel or stay even more comfortably in Brussels where my brother and sister-in-law have a nice apartment. But we chose to stay with Thea. The reason is simple: there was no way we would be able to completely identify with her life as a student in Europe unless we really live with her.
And those five days in Leuven, we learnt so much first hand about the way Thea lives. How she has to walk up and down four floors to get to her room. How her bathroom looks like and how she has to cook for herself; where she does her grocery shopping; where she went to school and how her friends looked like and where she takes the train to go anywhere. We were a part of her everyday life. We walked it with her.
And because of those experiences that went into such details into how she lived as a student, we found VALUE in our stay with her that money could never buy. Money could buy us convenience but not character. Money can buy us stuff but not substance. Character and substance often come with some inconveniences and discomforts.
Now we have a bagful of precious memories (and not perishable stuff) to take with us into the future. Years down the line, we would talk about her European days; we would tell those stories to her children, nephews and nieces and we would inspire them that there is more value and happiness in living below your means because it deposits into your soul things that money can never buy.
And we left Leuven so happy yesterday - we saved quite a bit of money!
