One of the distinguishing characteristics of the True Hedonist is the disdain for mediocrity. In all aspects. You don’t want to have an OK drink, you want to have a great cocktail. You don’t want to have a meal to satisfy your hunger, you want a meal that will feed your soul as well. You don’t want to have sex just for the release, you want to have an experience that will engage all your senses.

Unfortunately, we live in a world overtaken by mediocrity. As long as it’s good enough, we don’t object to it. We don’t like our job, but it’s OK, it’s not that bad. We don’t like the food we are eating, but it’s fast and convenient. We don’t like the hotel where we spend our vacation, but it’s OK, it will do. “It will do” has defined our generation. And then – anything that is slightly better, is sold to us as a luxury and once-in-a-lifetime experience. That’s not the life you want. What you want is a life of magnificent experiences, where every breath you take is memorable, every taste creates excitement, every touch is an immersive adventure. That life does not happen by accident. That life does not come naturally. You have to create it consciously. You have to seek the building blocks of that life intentionally. 

Spend only one day going through your own possessions and see if they are bringing you pleasure. Start cleaning your life from things that do not belong there and add things that do. I am not a fan of minimalism. Hedonism is not minimalist – it’s generous, exciting, and astounding. But, it’s better to have a few finer things, than to have plenty of mediocre ones. Your life can be a life of a Hedonist, only if the elements in your life correspond to the hedonistic concepts. Start with the little things, one room at a time. First – the bathroom. Do you like your toothpaste? If not, discard it immediately. Same with the hand soap, shampoo, beauty accessories. Anything that doesn’t fulfill the basic standard of “this is good for me”, doesn’t belong in your life.

Move to the kitchen. Open the fridge. Are the items in it there merely to satisfy your hunger, or do they create a desire for eating when you see them? Does your liquor cabinet have the drinks that you like, the drinks that you would normally order when sitting at a nice bar? If you are now in the mood for a good cocktail, do you have the ingredients to make it? When you open that bottle of wine, does it wow you, can you appreciate every sip of it, or is it just something to accompany your meal?

Open your wardrobe next. Take out all your clothes and try them on, one by one. How do you look in them? How do they make you feel? Do these clothes represent who you are? Who you want to be? Who you want people to see? Or they are simply functional and get the job done. “It will do” is not what you want in your life. You want “This is good”, or even better – “This is great”. How many items in your home fall into that category and how many are simply “it will do”?

You have a decision to make. Are you going to continue to go with the flow of your life, with decisions others made for you, a life of willful ignorance and things happening without your input… or you will take charge of your destiny and be who you were always meant to be? You are capable of great things and you deserve a great life – but only you can make that happen. Clean up your life. Remove the average. Remove the mediocre. Remove the unfulfilling. Remove the unsatisfying. Remove it from your home, from your body, from your mind. 

Make room for greatness. 

Start filling your life with finer things. Finer things in your home, in your body, and in your mind. Pay attention to every element of your life. It starts with the removal of things that do not fit in your lifestyle and continues with adding the things that do. Surround yourself with beauty. Do you want to wake up in the morning to bed linen that feels good on your skin, or something that feels sticky and sweaty? Do you want to walk past a beautiful art in your hallway, or some random IKEA poster? Do you want the smell of freshly ground specialty coffee or just a random store brand that will give you a quick caffeine fix? Which one of those things will make you feel good? Which one of those things would make you want more? Which one of those things will tune you to a better mindset for the rest of the day?

Finer things are more expensive. Not nearly as expensive though as the realization that you’ve lived a life void of continuous, everyday pleasures. The want for those finer things will be a great motivator. It will push you to do more, do better, earn more, have a greater career, take risks and earn rewards. You can do it at any age and any stage in life. You don’t have to do it all at once, but you have to set yourself on the right path. Instead of having three Ikea prints that every other home has – buy one unique work of art. It will bring you more satisfaction than the other three, for sure. Instead of having two nights at a local pub, have one night at a great restaurant. The same goes for clothes, shoes, accessories. Start collecting finer things, start adding them to your life, one at a time. Sooner than you think, your life will be filled with items that contribute greatly to it.