Simple Living In A Complicated World

I have spoken before about something a friend of mine once said about me. Now this was maybe ten years ago, and I’m happy to report that it no longer applies, but for the sake of this article I think it’s important to repeat. He told me that I could make a typhoon out of a glass of water. In other words, I was fully capable, back in the old days, of complicating matters beyond belief. Do you know of anyone like that?

I am reminded of a song from the 60’s by the Young Rascals. It starts out with the line, “How can I be sure, in a world that’s constantly changing, how can I be sure…..”

There is no doubt that the world is changing quickly. Technology advances so fast that we barely buy the newest gadget and a new newest is on the market begging for our attention, and of course we just must have it.

Change, especially rapid change, can be a bit detrimental to many people. It is unsettling to have change happening so quickly, and I think one indicator of that unsettlement is the proliferation of self-help books on the market. They began to show up in the 70’s if my recollection is correct, and each year new books line the shelves and people buy them by the millions. “How To Find Happiness.” How To Live A Better Life.” How To Find the Meaning of Life.” The secrets to a better life are there for the reasonable price of $14.95, and people line up at book signings to shake the hand of the man or woman who has finally discovered the answers to existence.

Sigh!

What I have found when reading some of those books is that the same things are said in each book; each author words it differently but the same concepts are expressed in each book. It makes me wonder if there really are any new answers to age-old questions.

My life has spanned six decades and I can say without hesitation that the answer to the question “how can I be sure” was taught to me when I was a young child, and it hasn’t changed since then.

My typhoon-making days are gone. My aggravations are gone. My blood pressure is excellent, my heartbeat is strong, and I sleep the sleep of the dead each and every night.

Why?

Because I have gone back to the basics lessons taught to me so very long ago. In other words, I quit complicating life and settled in to enjoy the simple pleasures. I adopted a simple lifestyle.

And you can too!

Here is the process I used.

I thought back to my earlier years when I was living a happy, carefree life. What did it look like? Well, there was time spent with family. There was time spent with friends. There was time spent pursuing activities that I enjoyed and that gave me a creative outlet. There was camping, hiking, sports, writing, fishing and just being lazy and doing nothing.

It all changed as I stepped onto the Rat Race Escalator and joined the rest of the responsible adults. Suddenly there was a mortgage payment, and a car payment, and credit cards used for things I did not need. Suddenly there were better paying jobs and longer hours and less time for family, friends, and activities I enjoyed.

There was stress and strain, worry and the gnashing of teeth; there was higher blood pressure and there were many sleepless nights. Suddenly there was self-doubt where once it did not exist, and there was a feeling of inadequacy as I continued to fall further behind the Joneses and their buddies.

Hmmm! Maybe, I reasoned, it might be time to step off of that Rat Race Escalator and try a slow stroll for a change.

So that’s what I did, and you can do it too!

There will always be those who will say that they can’t possibly do it. There will always be those who say they see no reason to do it. That’s fine; I ain’t selling and you ain’t buying. I can live with that. I make no claims to be smarter than anyone else, and I certainly don’t make any claims that my way is better than any other way.

But…..

If you are one who buys the latest in self-help books….if you are one who has forgotten what freedom from the Rat Race feels like….if you are one who finds it hard to be happy on a continual basis….then you might want to consider Living Simple.

I am going to keep saying this until I have reached as many people as possible with the message: your number one priority should be your happiness and well-being. Your number two priority should be the happiness and well-being of your family. Everything else is window-dressing in the store window of life.

I understand that I am flying in the face of a stiff societal wind. I say it is not necessary to work sixty hour weeks to be happy. I say it is not necessary to own two SUV’s and a 4,000 square foot home to be happy. I say that if you spend more time on Facebook than you do with your family, then you are seriously in need of a tune-up. I say that if watching reality television is more important than reality, then God bless you and may He keep you safe from yourselves.

I say one other thing, too, and this is important to consider. I think most of our problems in society today are a direct result of losing our way as a society. Materialism has been substituted for inner-quality. Consumerism has been substituted for Yankee know-how. Greed has been substituted for compassion, bigger has been substituted for better, and ego has been substituted for humility. Is it any wonder that our society is going down the toilet?

We have lost our way as a society, and as long as we insist on following this current path we will remain lost.

Have you ever heard someone describe another person as someone who follows the beat of a different drummer? Well that’s me, and that is a small circle of friends that I hang with, and we all have one thing in common. Can you guess what that one thing might be? We are all happy and at peace with our lives.

How friggin’ cool is that?

All of us have dusted off the old Life Magazines and we have stepped into those pages. We are living the simpler times. None of us works full-time for an employer. All of us spend quality time with our families and friends. All of us are either debt-free or working on that goal. All of us purchase according to needs rather than wants.

People have asked me how is it possible, and I return to the phrase “needs rather than wants.” As simple as those four words are, they seem to be very complicated for many to live, because most people are hard-wired into the consumerism mentality. The concept of “the more you purchase then the more you have to work” can be reversed to say “the less you purchase then the less you have to work.” Duh! We choose to purchase very little; thus, we do not have to work fifty and sixty hour weeks to catch up. And if we don’t have to work fifty or sixty hour weeks then we have more time to spend with family and friends. Again….duh!

Frugal living is the life for me. Simple living and simple pleasures and a nice, cold glass of lemonade. Yessir, life is good!

I loved my father. Anyone who has read my work over this past year understands that to be true. However, there were things he and I just did not agree on. One day, and I will always remember this, he was mad at me for always being in a good mood despite the problems around me. He was raised during the Great Depression, and there were times that economic struggles could weigh him down, and I’m sure it annoyed the hell out of him on occasion when I was in a good mood.

He told me one day that I needed to pull my head out of my ass and realize that life is just not that simple.

He was wrong. Life really is that simple.

Again, I ain’t selling, so don’t feel like I’m preaching to you. I’m just telling you that this works for me and it could work for you if you choose to give it a try.

If not, thanks for taking the time to read. Now hurry off and try to get five quality minutes with your family. Hey, maybe you could watch a reality tv show together and call that quality time. J

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)