I’ve grown up knowing how to minimize
Time, energy, resources,
To look at a problem and spend a little extra time thinking it through,
Then enacting a plan meant to conserve,
From visualizing how to pack a car,
To calculating costs before the register,
Preparation braces my bones against what life throws my way.

Needing little kept us grounded,
I understood growing our own food
Was always worth the taste of fresh salsa and jam,
That buying from farmers paid back in community,
That a long walk outside was the perfect time to connect
With myself, my people, and my world.

Yet the new world seems to think something is wrong
If you don’t constantly need,
Like you’re alien for ignoring ads,
Or arrogant for avoiding luxury.
That new world doesn’t understand true need:
I can find anything I’m missing on those long walks,
And everything else grows in my bones.