Lifestyle (working definition)
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A lifestyle is a system of functional, harmonious resources (a system in which all resource functions matter).
There are only three achievable lifestyles, each infinitely expressible in practice:
- Luxury
- A luxury lifestyle satisfies one’s need to consume. To be a functional consumer, one's resources conserved, as well as his or her resources constructed, must sufficiently enable his or her sustained consumption of resources. In a luxury lifestyle, one’s purpose is leisure.
- Economy
- An economy lifestyle satisfies one’s need to conserve. To be a functional conserver, one's resources constructed, as well as his or her resources consumed, must sufficiently enable his or her sustained conservation of resources. In an economy lifestyle, one’s purpose is maintenance.
- Aspirant
- An aspirant lifestyle satisfies one’s need to construct. To be a functional constructor, one's resources consumed, as well as his or her resources conserved, must sufficiently enable his or her sustained construction of resources. In an aspirant lifestyle, one’s purpose is development.
A lifestyle is the result of deliberate consumption, conservation and construction toward perpetuating subjective leisure, maintenance or development within a system of resources: a lifestyle is goal-oriented, thus may change if its defining goal significantly changes to require resources incompatible with resources already in use.
One may live within a class of lifestyle and graduate to another class of lifestyle. Passage between lifestyle classes (luxury, economy, aspirant) is, ideally, at first natural, afforded in youth by one's guardian or guardians, but one's passage between lifestyle classes is, thereafter, completely dependent on one's own initiative: when the luxury lifestyle of being an infant ceases with childhood, one is either provided the resources to establish an economy or aspirant or luxury lifestyle, or needs therefore to focus on building an economy adolescent or youth lifestyle, then focus on building an aspirant youth or adult lifestyle, then focus on building a luxury youth or middle age or old age lifestyle.
Barring special circumstances such as a windfall of resources suitable for living within any preferred lifestyle, living within each class of lifestyle (luxury, economy, aspirant) is only achievable via the right combination of consumption, conservation and construction, without which no lifestyle is possible. For this reason, a lifestyle is incredibly difficult to attain and is often claimed, but seldom practiced by free-willed individuals.
Generally, a true lifestyle (luxury, economy, aspirant) is inherent only in special circumstances. As an example:
There are two inherently luxury lifestyles:
- That which is lived by an infant.
- That which is lived by unencumbered royalty.
A third well known "inherently luxury lifestyle" exists, but it is rarely absolute, long-lived or genuine:
- That which is lived by a well-handled celebrity.
As a general acknowledgement, the occupant or occupants of a lifestyle may like or do whatever he or she or it or they wish, but his or her or its or their lifestyle may still only be categorized as a luxury lifestyle, an economy lifestyle or an aspirant lifestyle. For example, a "celebrity lifestyle" exists nominally, but not in practice: a "celebrity lifestyle" is simply one expression of a "luxury lifestyle."
Lifestyle Focus Categories:
- Schedule / budget / configuration
- Resources / Equipment
- Health / fitness / nourishment
- Communication / relationships
- Habitat / environment / home
- Practice / education
- Vocation / profession
- Diversion / recreation
- Society / organization / community