JONTILLMAN.COM | part of the problem since 1976

As I wander around the internets, looking for interesting simplicity and minimalist ideas, I am constantly struck by one thing; how complicated everyone seems to think this whole “simple living” thing is. The funny thing is, it’s the people who claim they are “living simply” that think it is complicated, or at least they must, given the amount of time and energy they put in to researching, discussing, planning and organizing themselves to be more simple.

Umm, is that really a “simple” life? it doesn’t look so from here. I see lots of well-meaning advice (and self-serving books) written about “simplifying your life”, “escaping the rat-race”, or “downshifting”, all predicated on the idea that there is something difficult about the whole thing. I disagree.

Whatever you want to call it, this post-consumer movement is awfully easy to become a part of. There are really only three things you have to do in order to simplify your life:

1. Actually Want To Do It
2. Just Relax
3. Pay Attention

That’s it. Really. Running around sampling a dozen different permutations of “simple living”, ordering dozens of books about downshifting, making plan after plan, none of that is simple, nor is it necessary. So much of what goes on in the name of “simple living” is actually antithetical to the whole idea, at least as I see it. People are needlessly complicating their lives, and by extension, the lives of others because they simply cannot relax and be still.