Living the simple life

"Simplifying is not necessarily about getting rid of everything you have worked hard for.
It's about making wise choices among the things you now have to choose from.
It's about recognizing that trying to have it all has gotten in the way of enjoying the things which do add to your happiness and well-being. So it's about deciding what's important to you, and gracefully letting go of the things that aren't."

from "Living the Simple Life"


Dear Friends,

I found this qoute on my co-worker's desk (I wasn't snooping, I was working on her PC), and it reminded me of why I've been working so hard to simplify my life in the last two years.

I've been sorting through the clutter of my life (literal and figurative clutter) and discarding the things that do not add meaning and substance to my mental, emotional, psychic, or physical life. Sometimes these are shoes or clothes that I've had for 3+ years and "I'm sure I will wear... eventually". Sometimes these things are relationships. And sometimes these are collections of things that were meaningful and that I kept in an effort to "hold onto" good times, the past, memories, etc.

As time went by I realized that all of these things are in my heart, and that keeping an old movie ticket stub, dozens of 80's LP's & 45's, or a handful of rocks I painted with pink fingernail polish when I was 9 years old do not add value to my life today. The relationships have grown tired with me making an unfading effort to keep them going, like a match in the rain. The clothing and memorabilia are no longer being used or even viewed. They sit in boxes in someone elses home, or in my closet, or under my bed. Not only do they not add value they, in fact, weigh me down with extra things to do, remember, pack, unpack, sort through, etc.

I do keep a small number of things that I treasure- Photographs, old poetry and stories I've written from elementary school through college, friends that have been a special and meaningful part of my life and whom I can actually communicate meaningfully with (regardless of the time or space that separate us), and items that I can collect but that will be used routinely and not necessarily be in my possession forever- such as stationary.

So, what does this mean? What does this have to do with you and your life?

Look around. What do you have that gives you pleasure? What is your life filled with that no longer pleases you but hints at being a burden to maintain? Be honest with yourself, are you really going to wear those shoes again? Are you ever going to get that needle replaced on your record player, which has been broken for over 7 years? After 3 years and 15 letters is your friend "Polly" really ever going to write or call back? And yes, those pink rocks were the coolest thing ever, when I was nine.

I do like to think back and remember painting them with my nail polish. But do I actually need to keep them in order to remember that time in my life? Perhaps if I were willing to display them in my home, but I'm not. I know that those rocks will never emerge from that box where they've been for the last 16 years. But I also know that I will always remember those pink rocks, even without proof. Sometimes letting go, as difficult as it is, helps us grow into who we've been working so hard to become.

It's time for me to simplify my life, one stash of pink rocks at a time. Oh, don't worry. I didn't get rid of all my LP's... I kept Madonna- Like a Virgin, and The Care Bears (the first record with images printed onto the LP itself). They are displayed on my bookshelf and I smile every time I see them, remembering my childhood.

Love,
Amy