Anyone
who has ever been to my home knows that I am a firm believer in "less is more".
Ever since the 11th grade, I remember being completely drawn to the
writings of the great transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David
Thoreau, for their beliefs in living a very simple life. However, as we get older, this becomes harder and harder due to societal pressure to try every new thing that comes on the market to make our lives "better". While I'm not saying that new technology, fashions trends, and other things are not, at times, helpful to life and should be adopted, I just suggest to take a little more time before always jumping on the latest train of complexity that is guaranteed to "improve" one's life. If possible, it is often better to keep your life as less complicated as possible by focusing on those few things that will make your life holistically fulfilled, rather than trying to be a part of ever new "opportunity" that presents itself. The reasons for this are simple:
IT CAN BE EXPENSIVE
Living a complex life of doing every social activity or trying to always be on top of new things can be very pricey. Trying to always be the person with the most cutting edge technology or in-house fashion design is not cheap. Since it is the "latest and greatest" out, most companies charge premium prices to those individuals who desire to be early adopters and are willing to pay top dollar to be the first to have something on the block. We often teach our kids when they are young that having something first is not important, but we often forget this lesson when we are adults and have to be the first with the new Iphone 5 or latest Samsung television. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's not cool to have new technology, but always desiring to purchase something solely because it's the latest thing out, and others will think you're "cool" for having it, is reminiscent of high school. We are all beyond that, aren't we?
IT CAN BE TIME CONSUMING
Keeping up with the latest fashion trends and trending topics can often be time consuming as well. Looking for that latest outfit or new toy will often take a lot of time away from other task that you could be spending your time on. Not that there is anything wrong with being on top of the hottest fashion tips, but some become so consumed with knowing these things that they often neglect more important things in their life (i.e. personal development, health, etc). By focusing on simple things in life, one is much more likely to stay committed to whatever things he/she has deemed important at that time. When we are pulled in too many different directions, it makes it hard to be successful at any one thing. By having less complexity in our lives and not trying to be a "jack of all," we are able to be way more effective on those items to which we dedicate the bulk of our time.
LIFE CAN ALREADY BE COMPLICATED ENOUGH
Everyday there appears to be more and more mandatory activities vying for our time that clutter our ability to focus. There are things at our jobs, school, or social activities that we have to commit to whether for ourselves, our significant other, or our children. When we continually look for more things to add to these complexities, we think we are making our lives more rich by adding different layers to it. However, often what we are really doing is just spreading ourselves so thin that we are not truly effective in any of the areas in which we participate. We try to be everything to everybody, which, in turn, make us not able to be anything to anybody.
Simplicity. It is more of an idea than an actual specific definition, but the essence of it is work hard to eliminate as many complexities from your life as possible and focus on the core things that make life worth living. Whether that is your family, religion, or job is your choice, but be careful to not clutter your daily "thinkbox" with so many "responsibilities" that you make it hard to truly be responsible for anything.
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