What is simple living?
Have you ever heard of voluntary simplicity? It is another term used to describe the concept of simple living. Both terms refer to a basic lifestyle often one in which people “live off the land.” Some people embrace the idea of simple living as a lifestyle that helps to protect the environment. Some just prefer this way of life to the hectic existence of many consumers. Others do not approve of corporatism, capitalism, or consumerism, and choose simple living on principle. Voluntary simplicity may actually be the more accurate term since simple living should not be confused with having only the most basic necessities due to poverty. Simple living is a chosen lifestyle, and that choice may be based on a variety of issues. People who choose this lifestyle feel as if they get something out of it, not as if they are doing without. Simple living means that every available resource is utilized in a way that makes the most of each one. For example, fruits and vegetables are planted and harves
I was first introduced to the idea of simple living back in 1996 when I received the book Living the Simple Life, by Elaine St. James, as a book club selection. The title of the book was intriguing to me. I was in my mid twenties, living in the Metro Detroit area and felt like my life was slipping through my fingers. I was working, doing everything a responsible adult is supposed to do, but I felt like something else was running my life, not me. I remember staring at the traffic speeding past while eating lunch with a friend at a trendy restaurant one day. I commented out loud that everyone seemed to be moving quickly towards nothing. A reflection of how I felt inside, the words were lost to my lunch companion, but they burned into my memory, echoing back for days afterwards. Secretly, I had been fantasizing about moving to the country, building my own house, growing my own food and leaving the intense pace of the city behind, along with the demands to “be something” and “do something”
Simple living — aka voluntary simplicity — has just about as many definitions as there are individuals who practice it. Simple living is not about living in poverty or self-inflicted deprivation. Rather, it is about living an examined life — one in which you have determined what is important, or “enough,” for you, discarding the rest.
