What's Your Definition of Luxury?

How mine has evolved.

As I continue to “grow up”, I realize that I have a different outlook on what it means for something to be luxurious than when I was a child. Previously, I used to think that luxury was defined by items, now I believe it is defined by time.

For me, it’s quite simple; luxury is being able to have a choice about how I spend all of the time in my day. At first read, this may just sound like free will, you may be thinking, “well, don’t we all have control over how we spend our days?” and that’s not off-base. But I want you to truly consider the choices you make relating to how you spend the time in your day.

I will provide an example of a luxury I currently possess, and how I could make the experience more luxurious, by my definition of the word. I work in a suburb and live in a city. There is a train station feet away from my office. I could take the train from where I live to where I work and it would take about an hour and a half each way, but if I drove it would take me about 45 minutes, and even less time to get home. It would be less expensive to take the train every day, but let’s consider all of the decisions I wouldn’t be able to make with that reality. I wouldn’t be able to decide when I left the house, because I’d have to make specific train times, there are only two that realistically would get me to the office on time, and neither of them would allow me to run or take a workout class in the morning. Additionally, I would have to spend significantly more time traveling on the train than if I drove. I made the decision to bring my car to the city and street park it, so that I am able to save myself over an hour of my day, and allow myself to take time for myself every morning. That is a luxury. When I get home from work every day, I have to spend about 10-15 minutes looking for parking near my apartment. If I wanted to save myself that time every week, which would amount to about an additional hour of my life back, I could purchase a parking spot in a nearby garage, so when I arrive home, I wouldn’t have to spend any additional time looking for parking. This is a how I could make this experience more luxurious, because I would be spending money each month to pay for a parking spot that would buy me back my time.

I associate luxury with time, and there are three themes that directly contribute to spending the time in my day more intentionally. These are comfort, quality of life, and peace of mind.

Comfort

To clarify the difference between this theme and peace of mind, which I describe below, comfort relates to my physical comfort. Having the ability every day to spend my time in physical comfort is an extreme luxury. I have a wardrobe of clothing made from materials I know I can spend my entire day in without being suffocated by my pants or irritated by my sweaters. Have you ever gone to work in an uncomfortable article of clothing? Never again. I have a bedding collection that has backups of sheets and comforters so that they can be washed and rotated intermittently, allowing a fresh, clean, comfortable sleeping arrangement at all times. Further luxuries to increase the time I spend comfortable include upgraded seating on airplanes for more legroom, a skincare routine that keeps my skin hydrated and nourished, getting massages when I feel tense or tight.

These things may sound basic, but being able to spend your entire day in physical comfort is a remarkably simple, frequently overlooked luxury. This is with the obvious exception of working out, which leads me to my next pillar.

Quality of Life

I find it extremely luxurious to spend my time doing things that improve my quality of life. I take pilates classes frequently and I recently purchased some running shoes and a running watch to make the cardiovascular portion of my fitness even a little bit more enjoyable, which is difficult but necessary. Exercising my body consistently in ways I enjoy allows me to exist easier, and while that may be a given in my earlier years, I know it will greatly improve the back-nine of my life. I do not want spend my time unable to go places or move around because I didn’t prioritize my quality of life in my 20s and 30s. Additionally, I find it luxurious to put effort into what I eat, so that I can spend my time feeling fueled and healthy. I go to the doctor, even those out of my network if I really like them, to ensure I can spend my time experiencing a pleasant quality of life.

I also categorize the upkeep of my apartment as a component of my quality of life as well. Keeping the apartment in a clean, tidy state improves the time that I spend in it. If everything is strewn about, the kitchen is gross, and it’s dusty, I’m not going to enjoy the time I’m spending there. In the future, I would like to take back some of my time in the week I spend keeping up the apartment by hiring a cleaning professional. This allows me to experience the same quality of life but also gives me back my time to spend doing other things I may enjoy more than cleaning.

Peace of Mind

Of all the themes relating to luxury, this is the big one. The very simple truth: if something goes wrong, I can pay for it. Or on a simpler scale, if I don’t want to deal with something, I can have someone else help. My family just decided we wanted to take a trip to Ireland in the fall, and we hired a travel agent to help us with the arrangements. Now, we don’t have to spend our time organizing the drivers or creating the the itinerary, we can focus on being excited for our trip. We have purchased the peace of mind that it will be an enjoyable time because we have offloaded the stressful logistical planning. The time spent on our vacation can be spent relaxing rather than taxing.

While this example is light hearted, peace of mind is an enormous luxury for more serious areas of life. If there’s a blizzard that dumps 12 inches of snow on the ground, our pantry and fridge are fully stocked so we don’t need to leave the house for food. If I lose my job, I am educated and qualified enough to get another one. And if shit absolutely hits the fan, I have a support system that will be there for me. Stress and worry quite literally take years off of your life. Being able to make decisions that allow me to have pervasive, transcending peace of mind for as much of my day as possible is empowering.

I have made several changes in my life over the last few years to make it more luxurious by my own standards. I have minimized expenses for timely, costly services including getting my hair and nails done. I used to get my hair done every 3 months, for around $500, and my nails done bi-weekly for $90. Now, I spend that money getting monthly facials to keep my skin healthy. To take back more time in my day, I have deleted a majority of my social media accounts and started this blog. Recently, I heard someone say, “I want to produce more than I consume” which deeply resonated with me. Social media apps thrive on how much time their users spend consuming content and I would spend hours a day scrolling for no reason, making me feel unaccomplished and lazy. I made it a concerted effort to take that time back, and do other things that make me feel productive or educate me. I’m trying to read more books, trying to cook more, I have started this blog as a creative outlet. These things fill my cup up so much more than having a screen time of four hours a day.

I want to be clear, there are material things that I want like jewelry or bags, and when I really want something, I usually buy it. The difference I have intentionally made myself aware of is that these items will likely not improve my life in any material way, they do not assist in the way I spend the time in my day. They will not bring me peace of mind, they will not improve my quality of life. As a result, the rush of buying stereotypically luxury items has lost its allure to me over the years.

As I continue forward in this little life I live, I strive to continue to make adjustments to take back additional minutes of my day, maximizing the intentionality of my time, and living my most luxurious life.