Thoughts On Living Simply

This morning on my usual walk around the land I thought a lot about living simply and what exactly that means. For many, it conjures up visions of washing clothes with a scrub board and tub, no electricity, not much in the line of technology and on and on. And some of that may be part of a simple life. But then "simplicity" takes on another meaning, lots of hard work and that doesn't seem so simple.
I remember knowing some older folks when I was a child who refused to accept the technology of the time. Electric windows in the car made them nervous, and later on when I was a teen, there were many who refused to use an electric type writer. I thought they were kind of crazy for now wanting to do things a bit easier, after all in my mind it made things much more simple. Its not the technology that makes our lives complicated and rushed, its how we allow them to take over us and rule us.
When we lived in Southern California, in a new big new house, tiny yard, surrounded by families where both parents worked and saw each other for a couple hours a day. Took the child to day care in its pajamas, brought them home after 5, fed them some fast food and put them to bed to start the whole cycle over again the next day. We lived where people had decorators "do their houses". New cars, excessive shopping, credit card debt beyond reason. We however, lived quite simply. Our little yard was not one of patio furniture and cutsie little landscaping highlighted by Malibu lights. It was a vegetable garden. Zucchini, corn, tomatoes, eggplants and grapes grew. Our children learned about the simplicity of growing your own food. Granted there was not much of it since the yard was the size of my living room, but enough that they got the idea. We bought our drapes from Sears Outlet. I was the decorator. We drove old cars and only my husband worked. Here were were in the middle of Yuppie-ville, living a simple life. We didn't live in a cabin in the mountains or on a sprawling farm. You see, living simple is a mindset, not land and animals.
I admit, we love living on our tiny little place here, having room for animals, fruit trees and a big garden, and from what we accomplish and what we have raised on this land people assume we have acres upon acres. I wrote an article once for Countryside magazine about living on less than an acre. Simplicity is not about where you live, its about HOW YOU LIVE.
If you are in a high tech area, living a fast paced life, stop and look at the things that are making you stressed. I guarantee its not the size of your back yard or lack of milking goats.
Its the running around, the spending beyond your means, the going after the golden egg and then when and if you find it, you still feel empty and beyond that you hear of a bigger and better golden egg that is just "to die for". Its never having down time, time to just sit and enjoy your family. The TV is blaring, the phones are ringing, the bills stacking up, no time to take a stroll with the person you love. Children more in love with the media toys we get them than family life. We loose them to another world and then wonder why they don't respect us. Are we respectable ? Do we put them first above the rush and drive that pushes us until we are so busy we make appointments to talk to our children. Are we strong enough to tell them "no" or do we just cave in with a simple uncomplicated, no fighting back YES answer since we are tired, exhausted from the life lived ?
Simplicity is all in the way we choose to live no matter where we are. Its a conscious choice to balance the technology in our lives with the things of real value. To chose to turn some of it off. Does the world cave in if, Sue down the street doesn't reach us on our cell phone to tell us that such and such store has a sale tomorrow ? Does the world cave in if the child has no X-Box or a computer in his room ? We would never think to allow our children to be under the influence of a stranger with as much hold as those two things have on our children.
I could make soap, spin wool, have a patio garden, use kerosene lamps, quilt, make my own clothes, bake bread, and cook from scratch no matter where I lived. As I have written before, simple living is a heart matter.
We have never lived the rich life, and its by choice. When we had a large income, it came with stress. So we left it. Went to the mountains of Oregon and left all the things of stress behind. One income was plenty to maintain our lifestyle. It still is. We are living on a income that is below the average middle class income.
We don't need more and its a fact that the more you make the more you spend.
Don't just dream about a simple life if thats what you want, just make the choice to live it, no matter where your home is.

picture is of my daughter Melissa thinking about her new life in Vermont as she looks at the landscape