live simply

I have been making every effort to live simply. I sit on my bed and write, I sleep under a single blanket, I eat a lot of toast. And I am terribly chaste, to an unseen, unheard of degree; chaste, possibly, to the point of illness. (Also, I memorize passages from Russian literature?)
If you know anything at all about being human, I would appreciate your answer to this question: is it possible to maintain the kind of simplicity I’m reaching for while also maintaining cuddle-puddly relationships with multiple people? I aspire to a tangle-free life, but I’m loathe to relinquish physicality for the sake of reducing my level of low-level, background drama-rumbles.

I’m reading this short book by Peter Lawrence called the Happy Minimalist. He makes the good case for simple living, but by now I’m not reading much that I don’t already know. But by comparison the the author, I live in a cluttered mansion. For example he says he has almost no furniture. He uses a sleeping bag very happily. I think he may be suggesting we all do the same. Or at least he challenges the notion that a bed and all the bed related stuff is something that everybody “needs.” In that I have to admit he is correct. We need some kind of protected place to sleep securely, and in most places simply being indoors in “enough.” The author says he can and has moved cross country all packed into a very small car and that he could pack up and move within an hour or so probably. There is a certain virtue to that, I guess, but honestly, that is not how I want to live.

For myself, I prefer sleeping in a bed and I appreciate my sofa, dining table, and chairs. I have a bookshelf, a sideboard and a dresser that I find to be pretty and that I am glad I own and intend to keep for a long time. I have several light fixtures so I don’t have to be moving a lamp around the place all the time. I do own several books that right now I prefer to keep. And then there is the art. I have art work and art objects all over the place. I think that is the part of my place that would make me very unhappy if I couldn’t have it. I could sleep on the floor as long as there was some art on the walls. It could be less than I have now….a serene Japanese scroll could be enough. But I need art around me.

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.