You Will Own Nothing and Be Happy

why is everything a subscription?

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little tired of everything being a subscription.

It’s like we don’t own anything anymore. You buy something, but you still have to pay a monthly subscription to use the thing you bought.

It makes you wonder. Do we actually really own anything anymore, or did we just pay full price to borrow the thing, because it’s like the company is still in control of the thing they sold us?

It’s weird.

Well, as I was reflecting on this, the thought came to me, “But Rosilind, you sell a subscription on Substack - for people to read posts that were always free on your blog before.”

And I felt a little twinge of regret that I did that.

Okay - a big twinge, actually.

Like why?

Because I could?

That’s actually not a good reason.

So, first thing this morning, I got on here and turned that off.

For now, I don’t feel like I offer something that is genuinely worth the subscription. I don’t know that I ever will.

Because to subscribe to get something that was always free before sounds way too much like the printers that limit how many pages you can print before making you upgrade to print more.

Or cars that make you upgrade to have heated seats.

Or the software subscriptions you used to pay once for, but now make you pay a monthly fee for - that looks cheaper, but in the end will cost you 10x more because you’re paying monthly for…. who knows how long.

So, if you’re tired of the subscription model on literally everything —

here’s a little corner where you don’t need one.