live simply

da Vinci once said that “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. Every step I take toward a more simple life has been incredible. I want to continue on this path.

My whole life I’ve been passive aggressive, over-analyzed and never told people who I really felt. That got me NO WHERE!

I know from experience that it’s just not the way to go. Be direct, you don’t have to be mean, just say how you really feel right off the bat. Don’t be passive aggressive and then resentful b/c someone didn’t know what you really wanted.

Simple is better!

And as far as having a ton of material possessions: that’s not the way to go. They end up owning you!

If we all said what we meant and didn’t concern ourselves with owning every little thing we would be a lot less tied down with all the excess baggage that brings.

Simplify!

to go through my closets and give away about half of my clothes. I’ve kept enough to wear (obviously), but I don’t have tons of extras anymore. Who really needs their entire closet to be full?

I’m inspired by the people I’ve talked to who have managed to pare down their possessions to 100 items or less. I’m not quite there yet, but they definitely inspire me to get rid of more and more stuff all the time.

Simplifying creates more space and less clutter. I only wish I could convince people to stop giving me stuff for gifts. I’d rather they donate the money to someone who really needs it. Or if they feel they must buy me a present, I’d prefer an experience over an item.

I find I’m always worried or thinking about something.

I believe that if I learn to live simply, many of those worries wouldn’t be on my mind.

I plan to start questioning everything I bring into my life. Is it something I need? Or do I just want it…

Learn to say no, reduce expenses. My wife and I did this aggressively but it can be a slower process. Don’t dive in too deeply at first. I really considered why I was spending money and where I was spending my time and moved on from there.

I already have the mindset, but in practice I need some work.
Get rid of stuff and also focus my time on the important things.

I’ve had surprising successes on the road to simplification (which has come to bear the glow of an eighteenth century German philosophy), and discovered- of course- that I have a surprisingly long way to go.
I managed to stay more or less free of my ex-job over the summer, and though it’s gotten more difficult with school back in session, I’m sticking to my guns pretty well. I’m also proud to say that I’ve more or less quit drinking… I say “more or less” because when I say that last winter I was drinking like a dehydrated octopus, I’m not kidding.
I’d call myself reasonably industrious. I mean, I’m still a hella slacker, but in place of my previous extended periods of half-hearted efforts, I now intersperse bouts of intense loitering with bouts of intense productivity. Progress!
Obviously, attempts to prune Zak have met with crushing defeat.
Despite my efforts, life has not actually gotten much simpler. For one thing, I’m just starting the college application process. (...Hahahaha. “Simple”!)
I am trying, though! Really.

At long last, the dump has a recycle container, so instead of at 40 mile RT to recycle, it’s about a 10 mile RT. Recycling has become simple, finally. I want to buy several big plastic garbage cans to use for recycling, and stop using the plastic bags I use now (the sun degrades them so quickly). I’ll line the cans with black plastic bags, then take those to recycling, dump them, then reline again (as much as possible). This is important to do.

With these many things to do, how can I live simply? By doing some of them and clearing my list. If I’m “doing” more than 20 things, I’m “not doing” too much. Some of the “things” have been on my list for years. What is one thing I can do today, and can it be taken off the list?